Going Back
by blucross
Summary: Time-Travel. Fighting against Sasuke sends him back into the past, to the day his Father becomes the Yondaime Hokage. Will Naruto be able to find a way back to his own time? Will he want to leave the past for the future? Rating may go up. Now rewriting!
1. Chapter 1

**Hello my faithful follower-people who still actually read this story! I'm all glad that you really like this story, as it was my first one on fanfiction. Thus, I have decided to totally beta it, making it better (and less confusing in some parts, I believe). I do hope you enjoy this re-vamp, because I remember when I wrote this and all the love I had for it…Eww. I sounded so mushy there. xP**

**Anyways, I had been meaning to beta this myself for a while, but then I got this review from what-the-hell (I enjoy the username, and the review itself, really) and decided that I should do it now instead of later. **

**Onwards with the first re-vamped!**

0o0-0o0-0o0

Both were panting heavily, their chakra levels low. They were glaring at each other, both remembering what had happened years ago. Once again, the two rivals-if not best friends- were at the Valley Of The End, and this time, there would be no holding back.

"You can still come back, Sasuke," Naruto told him again, trying to convince the Avenger before it was too late. "I'd give you leniency, and you'd be able to do missions again after a few years. You'd be able to restore the Uchiha Clan, too. Itachi's dead already."

"Usuratonkachi, do you honestly believe that after seven years I would come back? Konoha is my new target; as soon as I kill you, I will destroy everything within and watch those you hold dear die." A cruel smile appeared on the once Konoha-nin as the blood leaked out of his eyes like tears.

Naruto growled; though they were just attacked by the Akatsuki not long ago, they had survived, albeit major destruction to the village and to the Konoha shinobi. There were deaths that had affected them all, such as the death of the Godaime Hokage, Senju Tsunade, Hatake Kakashi and Haruno Sakura. Everyone had been depressed over their deaths, especially Naruto, who lost the remainder of his team, his family. But despite his pain, he had faced it head on.

_Flashback Start_

The citizens of Konoha were deeply affected by the death of their Hokage. Their auras were that of depression and they were giving up hope in a way that it could be considered- as phrased by the Hyuuga Neji from years ago- "succumbing to their fates." Now, Naruto would not have that; he wouldn't let his village give up. Sure, they were hit pretty hard by the attack from the Akatsuki and Uchiha Madara, but that didn't mean they had to give up; it just wouldn't do.

On an overcast day a week after the attack of the Akatsuki, the new Hokage was to be presented to the citizens of Konoha. At the time of the ceremony, the villagers were confused. Why were they here if they didn't have a Hokage to lead the ceremony? Who was actually strong enough to lead them? Their confusion soon turned to shock though as they saw a yellow flash appear before them. Murmurs spread around the congregated group of Konoha citizens as a yellow flash went around the villagers and shinobi.

The yellow flash finally stopped on the stage where the Hokage would normally be. Upon further inspection, he was wearing the normal Jounin attire: a Jounin vest with standard ANBU black pants with white tape around his ankles and wore a simple black, long sleeve shirt. There were a few things that really shocked the assembled crowd; he was wearing a white, sleeveless trench-coat that went to his ankles that red flames travelling from the bottom upwards to his knees. While this had thoroughly stunned the crowd, it was merely the tip of the iceberg; the part that had shocked the shinobi and villagers were his features: sun-kissed blond hair, bright, deep azure eyes and three whisker marks on each side of his face.

He smiled to the crowd in front of him, a smile that was reassuring, kind friendly, filled with determination, something the people of Konoha needed.

"People of Konoha, listen to me," Naruto called out to the crowd. "Right now, we are in a time of sadness and grief. There are many of us who have lost those close and dear to us. I, too, have lost my Sensei, my teammate, and my baa-chan." At this, the villagers chuckled sadly, knowing that he was referring to the late Godaime Hokage. "But, because we lost them, shouldn't we live for them instead of grieving?" Naruto had the attention of all the villagers, his voice entrancing to those who listened.

"Of course we grieve for the loss of them, but we shouldn't let that dampen our spirits. We must overcome what has happened, and prove that just because we have been attacked, it does not mean we are weak. We are strong, and we will overcome those that try to bring us down." There were cheers, and Naruto grinned, his smile becoming bigger.

"We are Konoha! We fight for those we love, and never back down to the enemy! That's our Will Of Fire!" The cheers were now loud, and the attitude of the village had made a complete 180.

"I, Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto, swear upon my title of Rokudaime that we will prosper, and I will do the best I can to make sure we rise once again!" There was shock upon the faces of the villagers and shinobi. The Yondaime had a legacy? The shock wore off though, and the cheers grew as the citizens of Konohagakure looked upon their new Hokage, their hearts beginning to heal.

_Flashback End_

Naruto snorted and shook his head at Sasuke. "Like hell I'd let you do that, teme!" Naruto retorted, glaring at him with a fire of determination in his eyes.

Sasuke smirked. "Watch me."

He came rushing at Naruto, his fingers quickly going through the seals for his best known jutsu. Naruto responded in turn, and started creating his rasengan.

The two ran at each other, their best techniques in hand, as they had so many years ago. The two pairs of eyes locked together as they met, each shouting their prized techniques.

"Chidori!"

"Fuuton: Rasenshuriken!"

And as the two jutsus clashed, each felt theirs connect to the other's chest and a blinding, white light appeared. It engulfed the two rivals, soon engulfing the whole valley.

0o0-0o0-0o0

There was excitement all around; Namikaze Minato, Konoha's Kiiroi Senko, had just become the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure. All the villagers, shinobi included, were celebrating this joyous occasion; all were congratulating the Yondaime, telling him things they normally wouldn't say, possibly because they were drunk.

Now, said person the citizens of Konoha were cheering about was getting bombarded. He took it as best as he could, which was considerably well considering he was the Kiiroi Senko. Though he was modest while talking about himself, they all wanted to shake his hand or get pictures with him. At the moment though, all Namikaze Minato wanted to do was spend time with his girlfriend, Uzumaki Kushina. Unfortunately, both knew that this was just not going to happen until much later in the day, if not the night.

So, when there was a sudden flash of blinding white light, it was rather unexpected. All of those who were present in the main square ceased their actions, waiting to find out what had happened.

As the light dimmed down, there were gasps at the sight before them. There was a boy of about thirteen-fourteen years, dressed as a normal jounin, though his clothes were tattered as if he had been in an intense battle. But there were a few things that weren't normal, such as the gaping hole in the middle of his chest, which was bleeding profusely. There was also the fact that said boy looked exactly like the Yondaime, albeit three whisker marks on each side of his face and the obviously bleeding hole in his chest.

The boy observed his surroundings as if trying to make sure he wouldn't get attacked. Nobody moved as he looked around, as if trying to reassure himself of what he was seeing.

And then he collapsed.

0o0-0o0-0o0

Well, there's the first rewritten chapter. Review please!


	2. Chapter 2

Hmm. You know, I think I like you guys. I got a lot of alerts for this story, which is really cool. Though I don't see what you people see in this story. I might have to read it myself… Oh, well. Without further ado, here's the next chapter. Review and enjoy!

~Recap~

The boy looked at his surroundings, as if trying to make sure he wouldn't get attacked. Nobody moved as he looked around, as if trying to reassure himself of what he was seeing.

And then he collapsed.

Chapter Two

Tsunade glanced over at the sleeping boy. It had been quite the inauguration day, she had mused to herself more than once that day. It had been a week since the boy had arrived here, and things were starting to calm down. She still remembered the event clearly, as if it had just happened.

Flashback Start

It was deathly quiet. Nobody moved, they just stared at the boy, as he laid in his own puddle of blood. The first one to break out if this was Namikaze Minato.

"What are you doing? Don't just stand there! Get Tsunade here, quick!" Minato ordered, breaking everyone out if their reveries. The medic-nins went to the boy and carefully flipped him over and began the diagnosis of the boy's injuries.

About a few minutes later, a slightly distraught-looking Tsunade was at the square. She immediately went over to the boy, and slightly paled as she saw for herself the injuries this boy had.

"Shizune! Prepare for an operation here. We can't move him. We also need to run a quick blood test. He needs blood." Shizune nodded curtly, and began ordering other nurses and shinobi to get the proper equipment.

Tsunade turned over to the other medic-nins present, "Report!" She commanded, and the medic-nin, who just so happened to be Rin, gave her diagnosis.

"The boy has taken quite a beating, Tusnade-sama," She said. "He has multiple bruises, abrasions, and cuts all over his body. The main injury is the one in his chest. It missed his heart by half an inch." Tsunade paled slightly at this. This gaki must have some luck, to be able to survive a hit like that.

"That's not all though, Tsunade-sama," Rin interrupted her thoughts. Tsunade looked up at her. "Apparently, his chest injury is slowly healing itself." Tsunade's eyes widened at this. How was that possible. "Though it is healing," Rin continued, seeing the look on the legendary medic-nin's face. "It's not fast enough for him to survive. He needs surgery. And quick."

Tsunade nodded sharply, and started barking orders at all the nurses. She called for Shizune, who immediately came to her teacher's side, fearing her wrath if she didn't. "Report." She demanded.

"Hai," She said. "We ran a quick blood test, and found that he has a rare blood type for the village." Tsunade raised an eyebrow, and Shizune continued. "But, running it through the scanners, I compared it to Yondaime-sama's and it had high compatibility with his. It would be best to use Yondaime-sama's blood for this."

"I see." Tsunade replied. 'How odd,' she thought to herself as she looked around to see if she could spot Minato. 'His blood's compared to Minato's, eh? I'll have to ask the gaki about it when he wakes up.' Finding Minato talking to some villagers, she called him.

"MINATO! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!" She smirked as she saw him jump nearly a foot in the air as he was unexpectedly called. He was over there in a flash.

"What do you need, Tsunade?" He asked, looking at the kid, and paling as he saw the kid's wound.

"We found that his blood is highly compatible with yours," Tsunade explained, not sparing any words. "We need you to make a blood transaction, otherwise the gaki won't make it." Minato blinked, but nodded. Getting his affirmation, Tsunade started barking out orders once more. She also ordered Minato to take off his shirt for the transaction. Some of the nurses ogled his abs, but he just rolled his eyes.

He laid down on the cot, which was close to the boys'. Shizune put a needle in, and began drawing blood from him. Tsunade had already begun healing the boy, and after twenty-five minutes, the boy's wound had been completely healed. Tsunade had ordered him to be put in the hospital, where he would rest until he woke up.

Flashback End

'But still,' Tsunade thought. 'To be compatible to Minato's blood? That's certainly not something normal. To be compatible, you have to have Namikaze blood in you.' That was one of the difficult things about the Namikazes. If you were of Namikaze blood and needed a transaction, you needed another Namikaze's blood. Sure, it would work with other's blood, but you just wouldn't get the same rate of healing as you would with Namikaze blood.

She sighed, and walked out of the room and turned off the light, leaving the two blondes to sleep.

0o0

Naruto sighed as he sat down against the large tree within his mindscape. Ever since he had fallen unconscious, he had been training with the resident furball. It was the only thing he could do since his body was still recovering to his chest wound and his fight against Sasuke.

At the current moment, he had paused to take a break. He had been having combined kenjutsu and taijutsu lessons on his family's (Namikaze) kenjutsu and (Uzumaki's) taijutsu. While he was fairly good at them alone, if he could put them together as one, he will have created his own kenjutsu style (which he found incredibly awesome, and was apparently unstoppable. "Dattebayo!"). Thus, he had begun training with Kyuubi while he was stuck inside his mindscape. He was fairly certain that if anyone of the Yamanaka Clan came by to see into his mind, all they'd see the long tunnels with water up to your mid-shin(s). While it wasn't positive that they wouldn't wet themselves upon seeing Kyuubi (a clone of him, that is) in his cage, scaring off trespassers.

"Oi, Kit," Kyuubi broke Naruto out of his thoughts. "Break's up. Time to start cutting you up again." He said with a laugh and a smirk.

Naruto sighed as he got up once more. So far, he was making progress with the kenjutsu-taijutsu combo, but he still was bad at. Or as Kyuubi would say when he fell on his butt (which was often) "My grandma's better than you!" (To which he would reply with a snort and saying "What grandma? I thought you were born by knocked up rocks, your head's so thick!")

So when, instead of taunting Naruto after he fell on his butt (again), his eyes narrowed.

"Kit," He said with an unusual seriousness. "I believe its time for you to wake up."

"Wake up?" Naruto asked, getting back on his feet. "Why?"

"Because," Kyuubi explained, heading back towards the door that led to the cage. "They're sending Yamanaka Inoichi in. He won't be fooled like the others of his clan. He will find this, and report it to whoever is Hokage."

Naruto's eyes had gone wide as he heard the name 'Yamanaka Inoichi' spoken by Kyuubi. He knew that the Yamanaka Clan Head was smart, and would certainly not be fooled by the traps that had been lain in there.

So, Naruto sheathed his sword and ran to catch up with Kyuubi, who was almost to the door which led back to the cage.

Upon entering the long hallways once more, Kyuubi slipped back into his cage, and Naruto put the seal back on with deft hands (as he was the resident Seal Master of Konoha, being approved of by Jiraiya) and tossed his sword to the now large, nine-tailed bijuu.

Walking away, Naruto turned his head over his shoulder with an affectionate smile. "I'll talk to you later, furball."

Kyuubi let out a breath, which was hot and strong, and would have knocked Naruto over if he wasn't prepared, or used to it.

"Yes, we have much to discuss. I believe the place where we have landed is, in fact, Konoha, but not the one we are used to." Naruto nodded and began the long trek to the outside corridors of his mind. And Naruto could hear, though it was softer, quieter, and lined with worry, Kyuubi's departing statement as he left his mind for the real world. "And be careful, Kit."

Naruto had a soft smile on his face as he was in darkness again.

0o0

Naruto blinked as his eyes got adjusted to the real world. He could hear people talking around him, though it was still fuzzy to his ears. He blinked a few more times before he could clearly see the white walls around him. And then he scowled.

He looked around to see who was in the room. There was Ero-Sennin, Inoichi, Shizune, Rin, Obito, Kakashi, his baa-chan -to which he almost sprang out of bed to hug her- and an familiar man with azure eyes and blond hair, much like his own.

He scrunched his eyes, and his scowl became a frown as he tried to remember the man. The man raised an eyebrow, noticing Naruto looking at him funny.

"Who're you?" He asked the man bluntly, scratching the back of his head, giving up the search to find the man's identity. Kyuubi sighed, and muttered something about 'dense, blond brats.' There were several other reactions to his question besides Kyuubi's. Jiraiya laughed out loud; Inoichi almost did, but he put his hand over his mouth; Tsunade smiled as did Shizune; and Obito, Rin and Kakashi stared at him with wide eyes.

The unidentified man himself smiled sheepishly, and scratched his head, in a manner such as Naruto's. "Well… I'm Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage.

And break! How's ya'll like that? As said previously, please review!


	3. Chapter 3

So how'd ya'll like the last chapter? I liked it too. Unfortunately, though, I have yet to figure out why you people like this story so much. I mean, I don't mind you guys liking it and all, but that still doesn't help. I'm reading it like you guys, though it still hasn't occurred to me why…But, there are a lot of reviews, favorites, and alerts, which is, like, really cool. As of right now, there are:

Reviews: 14

Alerts: 32

Favorites: 19

C2s (I don't have any idea what this means. So, if anyone can tell me, that'd be great, thanks.): 1

Well, enough of my ramblings (There's too many of them. ("Dattebayo!") You'd ex out of the screen before you got to the actual story.). But, depending on how this chapter flows out, there may be an Omake, just a heads up. And also, for this story, I don't think I'll kill Obito, unless you guys want him dead, which you better tell me now, before its too late. Now, onwards with the story. Review and enjoy!

~Recap~

"Who're you?" He asked the man bluntly, scratching the back of his head, giving up the search to find the man's identity. Kyuubi sighed, and muttered something about 'dense, blond brats.' There were several other reactions to his question besides Kyuubi's. Jiraiya laughed out loud; Inoichi almost did, but he put his hand over his mouth; Tsunade smiled as did Shizune; and Obito, Rin and Kakashi stared at him with wide eyes.

The unidentified man himself smiled sheepishly, and scratched his head, in a manner such as Naruto's. "Well… I'm Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage.

~End Recap~

Naruto stared at him. He blinked owlishly. "Who?" He asked again.

Jiraiya laughed again, even harder this time. Naruto watched Minato shot his sensei a glare, but said person was laughing too hard to notice.

Minato looked at the boy again with a sigh. "My name's Namikaze Minato, kid. The Yondaime Hokage." He observed Naruto, and it looked like it got through to him this time.

"Oh," He scratched the back of his head, noticeably paling a bit. "That would explain why you were so familiar." He gave off a shaky, somewhat nervous laugh.

Minato smiled lightly. "No problem, kid." He was silent for a few moments, before asking, "So, where'd you get the giant hole in your chest from?"

Naruto looked confused for a second, looked down to his chest, before remembering what happened, and winced.

"Well, to put it simply, a friend and I got into a fight, where he put the hole in my chest. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see if I nailed him or not, but I think I did. God knows the bastard deserved it. And when I woke up, you all were here." Naruto explained, trying to give away as little information as possible.

"I see," Minato said, looking to Jiraiya, who nodded slightly. It normally wouldn't have been noticed by anyone in the group, but Naruto's sharp eyes caught it. He had trained his eyes to pick up the small things, lest he suffer for in the future.

He looked out the window on his left and thought about his village. He thought about what would have happened if he hadn't landed the killing blow to Sasuke. What was happening to his village right now? Were they being attacked? Were all his precious people dying protecting the village because he wasn't there to help them?

As he pondered these questions, the occupants of the room observed him, unbeknownst to him. They saw not the eyes of a thirteen year old boy, but of a war-torn man who had suffered, who had lost what he loved. As they looked into his eyes, all could clearly see the unshed tears that he couldn't cry, because he had cried too much.

Tsunade, who had experienced some of what the boy had, put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, causing the boy to turn around and face her.

"You're too young to have eyes like those, gaki," She said with a small smile. "But don't worry, as long as we're here, nothing'll happen to you." The boy looked surprised, but then he gave a brilliant, if not small, smile to those in the room.

"Thanks, baa-chan," He said to Tsunade, who bopped him on the head. Everyone, including the still angry Tsunade laughed.

"By the way," Minato asked, causing everyone in the room to look towards him. "What's your name, kid?"

Said boy looked at everyone in the room before answering, "Naruto." With a smile.

0o0

"Well Naruto," Tsunade said, a week after he had woken up. "You're free to go now," Tsunade told him, smiling at the hyper boy.

"Yatta! Arigatou, baa-chan!" Naruto exclaimed with a big grin, running out of the hospital before he could be held back, and get hit by Tsunade.

Naruto had been waiting to be released for that whole week. During that time, when he had pretended to be sleeping, he was in his mindscape, practicing, talking, and planning what he was going to do. As he walked down the main road of the village, he thought back to his first conversation with the Kyuubi after the conversation a week ago.

Flashback Start

Going into his mindscape, Naruto walked down the corridors he knew by heart to his tenants residing place. When he got there, he nodded to the Kyuubi, who nodded in return. Kyuubi turned into his human form, and followed Naruto into their meadow, where they trained.

Walking towards the giant tree that stood tall in the grassy meadow, there were no words spoken between the two. Upon arriving at the tree, the two sat, and nothing was said for a while. Naruto was the one to break the silence.

"What have I gotten myself into this time?" He asked, to both Kyuubi and to himself.

"Unfortunately, I know not, Kit," Kyuubi said. "Although, I do have a theory as to why this has happened." Naruto looked at the Kyuubi intently. Kyuubi continued.

"The kami are fickle creatures," Kyuubi began, choosing to ignore the eyebrow raise from his jailor. "They rule this universe, as well as the many universes we have yet, or may not even discover. Everything has a reason for which it happens, thus creating the tale we call our existence. The kami watch as the fates of many intertwine and create the many paths to which have been already seen.

"Now, if the kami find that the paths that have been set are changed to where a person is suddenly erased, they will intervene. Though this rarely occurs, it sometimes does happen. In this case, the kami have decided that your life must continue on." The Kyuubi paused, letting the information sink into Naruto's somewhat thick head.

When Naruto nodded to the Kyuubi, he once more continued. "Thus, it brings us to what has happened. I theorize that we have been sent into the past." Naruto's eyes widened, but he didn't object to the theory.

"I guess that going to the past can happen, even if it's weird. I mean, everyone in that room, except for Shizune and Inoichi, are dead in the future. But here, they're all alive. It's hard to accept, but I guess its true." Naruto said, to which Kyuubi nodded.

"And this means we're going to have to be careful here, otherwise some things will be totally messed up. I just pray to god nothing happens to where all my friends end up not being born. That'd be way too troublesome." Naruto said, smiling as he thought of his lazy friend Shika.

"I agree," Kyuubi said. "It is best to be on guard. Otherwise, you'll slip, and then things will be very complicated, and as you said, troublesome." Naruto nodded, and the two got up and began to train Naruto once more.

Flashback End

As he was thinking of this, Naruto's stomach grumbled, demanding food. 'I wonder if Ichiraku's is open…' Naruto mused to himself, heading towards the place where his favorite ramen stand should be,

To his delight, it was open, and he could smell it from ten feet away. 'Yatta! Its actually open!' Naruto thought as he quickly made his way to the ramen stand.

'You and your ramen,' Kyuubi grumbled from within his mind. 'I swear, I honestly don't know how you got to be six feet. You're petite and were hit on a lot once you were in the villagers good graces.'

'Hey! I had a growth spurt while- Wait. I was hit on?' Naruto asked in disbelief. He had had no idea. Though now that he thought about it, the villagers would sometimes look at him funny.

'Of course you didn't notice. You're too dense to.' Kyuubi told him, knowing that he'd rile his blond jailor up.

'Hey! I'm not that bad!' Naruto cried, but was only left with laughs as Kyuubi fell asleep.

Grumbling, Naruto entered the stand and took a seat. Shortly after, a woman with fire red hair and green eyes came in and sat next to him. They both waited for someone to come out and get their orders. When someone did, it was Ichiraku.

"What can I get you?" He asked them, his same kind smile on his face, albeit younger looking.

"One miso ramen with pork please, old man!" The two customers ordered at the same time. The two blinked, and looked at each other with obvious shock.

Ichiraku just laughed. "Alright then, your orders will be out in a couple of minutes, you two." He said, going to make the ramen.

The two were still staring at each other when he left. Naruto blinked a few times before he smiled widely. "Hi, I'm Naruto!" He greeted, putting out his hand.

The woman didn't hesitate as a smile as big as Naruto's came onto her face. "I'm Kushina, 'ttebane!" She replied in kind.

"I have a friend who said that someone who likes ramen can't be bad, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed, already liking Kushina.

Kushina nodded eagerly. "I know! And Ichiraku makes good ramen." She told her new ramen-loving friend, who she immensely liked.

"No, Ichiraku's doesn't make good ramen," Naruto told her. Kushina looked at him funny. "They make the best ramen, Dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed with a giant smile on his face, which Kushina soon had as well, in that bass ackwards way we all know so well by .

"Well, I'm glad you think our ramen is so good here, Naruto," Ichiraku said, having heard the boy's name earlier. He placed the bowls in front of the two.

"Totally, old man!" Naruto said, digging into his ramen. Kushina did the same. And as they ate ramen to their hearts content, the two ramen lovers talked about many things -mainly ramen- before filing out of the restaurant, Kushina paying for the both of them. At first, Naruto said that she didn't have to (he had already gotten money from Minato to go look around Konoha) but she insisted, saying that it was rare to find a ramen lover like her around here. So, he reluctantly gave in and let her pay.

"Ah, I'm stuffed, 'ttebane!" Kushina said, stretching out her arms.

"Me too!" Naruto replied happily. He couldn't remember the last time he had had Ichiraku's ramen. Hinata, his secretary, had decided that it wasn't good for him to have ramen all the time and (with the confidence that she was lacking as a genin) strictly told him that he couldn't have that much ramen anymore, to which he remorsefully accepted. It had been truly great to stuff himself again, like he used to.

Naruto waved goodbye to her before going back to the Hokage Tower (Minato had wanted him to stop by when he was released from the hospital). And just as he was turning his head back around to the front, someone ran smack dab into him, knocking him to his butt.

"Ouch, that hurt!" He, and the person that ran into him, said at the same time. Naruto looked up to see Minato in the exact same position as him, albeit opposite of him.

"Ah, Minato!" Naruto exclaimed, recognizing his father immediately.

Minato blinked, and noticed that Naruto was sitting across from him. "ah, Naruto. Sorry 'bout that. Actually, I was looking for you…" He explained, scratching the back of his head, smiling sheepishly.

"Actually, I was heading to the Hokage Tower just now," Naruto laughed, scratching the back of his head as well.

Naruto are you all- Minato?" Kushina's voice came from behind Naruto, and the two blue-eyed blondes looked to behind Naruto.

There stood Kushina, in all her glory, looking extremely confused.

"Oh, hi Kushina!" The two blondes greeted in unison, turning to look at each other, wondering how the other knew the red-head.

"Wah! Minato, when'd you get a mini-me?" Kushina asked, watching as Minato helped Naruto up.

"Kushina, this is the kid from the incident two weeks ago." Kushina looked at Naruto with wide eyes. This was the kid that had Minato's blood?

"Eh, Naruto, how do you know Kushina?" Minato, changing the subject.

"Oh, we met at Ichiraku's!" Kushina answered for him. "Naruto's a true ramen-lover!" She exclaimed, with a wide grin on her face. Minato sighed.

"How do you know Kushina, Minato?" Naruto asked, tilting his head to the side, which Minato and Kushina secretly thought was adorable.

Minato smiled, and walked over, draping an arm around Kushina's shoulders which Kushina smiled, if possible, even more.

"This in my fiancée, Uzumaki Kushina."

And that's a wrap people! My god, this was incredibly long! I don't know how I wrote all of this! It's fourteen pages long (meep). But it's all's well that ends well, I guess. On another hand though, the thing we all hate (school) is starting for me next week. T-T So, the chapters will not come as fast, but I promise that I'll do my best to make sure that I update at least once a week, 'ttebane! As said before, though, review! Also, here's the Omake. The story flowed right, and I got to write this! ^-^

Omake

~Recap~

"Who're you?" He asked the man bluntly, scratching the back of his head, giving up the search to find the man's identity. Kyuubi sighed, and muttered something about 'dense, blond brats.' There were several other reactions to his question besides Kyuubi's. Jiraiya laughed out loud; Inoichi almost did, but he put his hand over his mouth; Tsunade smiled as did Shizune; and Obito, Rin and Kakashi stared at him with wide eyes.

The unidentified man himself smiled sheepishly, and scratched his head, in a manner such as Naruto's. "Well… I'm Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage.

~End Recap~

Naruto blinked, frowned, and then laid back down. "Screw this, I'm going back to sleep." He announced, turning his back to the occupants of the room, who were now staring at him openly, except for Jiraiya, who was now on the ground, trying, and failing, to stop his laughter. Fed up with Jiraiya's laughing, Tsunade opened the window, and literally kicked Jiraiya out of the room. Coincidentally, Tsunade kicked him hard to land him in the hot springs a couple of blocks away. The female side, of course.

Screams were heard from the hot springs as Jiraiya was unmercifully beaten by the angry women. Naruto had to stuff his entire fist in his mouth to keep from laughing. So, his whole body was shaking uncontrollably as he listened to the screams of pain coming from his godfather.


	4. Chapter 4

Omg, I am so sorry I haven't updated in a while. I have two very good reasons why. (Well, one of them is, anyway.) Reason one: Recently, I've started this thing called school (again) and I haven't been able to get on in a while. Reason two: I'm going to be posting a new fanfic! It's an HP/FMA crossover. I've been reading them a lot, and I decided that I'd (try to) make one. So, I will probably post that as well.

I'm uber sorry, I know this chapter's going to be shorter than my previous ones. But I believe it to be important. I know, sadly, that this story may not go beyond fifteen chapters. But, the development of the story's going well, so there may be a sequel! Anyway, onward with the story. Review and Enjoy!

~Recap~

"How do you know Kushina, Minato?" Naruto asked, tilting his head to the side, which Minato and Kushina secretly thought was adorable.

Minato smiled, and walked over, draping an arm around Kushina's shoulders which Kushina smiled, if possible, even more.

"This in my fiancée, Uzumaki Kushina."

~End Recap~

"Fiancée?" Naruto asked. He blinked. He stared at Minato and Kushina, who in turn started to squirm a bit under his unwavering gaze. But that didn't last long.

"That's so cool! I didn't know you were taken, Minato. I thought that you were single, the way the women look at you." He smiled a foxy smile.

Minato blushed, and Kushina raised an eyebrow. But she soon grinned a foxy grin of her own. "I like you even more, Naruto!" Kushina exclaimed. Naruto just smiled again.

Minato sighed; this was going to be difficult. He could deal with someone as eccentric as Kushina. Sure she was a bit wild, but he could manage. But then that's where Minato came into the picture; he was exactly like Kushina, and he didn't know if he could deal with two Kushina's.

Shaking his head, he looked to Naruto. "Well, now that that's solved, why don't you follow me back to the tower, Naruto. We'll get your living arrangements all sorted out." Naruto nodded, and began walking back to the Hokage tower. Having nothing better to do, Kushina decided to tag along. Little did she, let alone Minato, know that her choice to come along would have an impact for what was to come in the future.

0o0

Naruto was deep in thought as he walked towards the Hokage tower with his unknowing parents. It was rather interesting, he thought, that they didn't notice the similarities that he had with the two. From his father came his looks, while his personality mainly came from Kushina. He doubted they would ever figure out that he was their son unless someone told them, or someone form the Nara Clan, presumably as smart as Shika, decided to take an interest in him. He really hoped the latter wouldn't happen; if any Nara, even if they weren't as smart as Shika, would undoubtedly be interested as to why he acted the same as Kushina, and looked like Minato. Though, he mused, it certainly would be an interesting thing to think about. He would have been curious about this himself, save for the fact that he would be solving the mystery that was him. That's why he hadn't told anyone his last name.

So in thought of what might have happened in the future, he didn't realize, nor did they, apparently, that one of them was walking on each of Naruto's sides, making them look like the normal family going on a walk. Except, it could never be normal when the Yondaime himself was in this family.

And so in thought about what may happened, he didn't realize himself going back into his memories, thinking of all his friends who were so far, yet so near. So, when Kushina looked at him to ask him of his favorite ramen, she gasped in shock, surprise, and, strangely, guilt, as she saw the war-torn eyes of a boy, no older than thirteen. His eyes, so brilliant a few moments ago, became a dull blue.

Minato, who had things on his mind , specifically where Naruto would live, turned his head at Kushina's gasp. Looking at her face, he looked down to Naruto's face, where he, too, saw the dull shade of blue. Guilt washed over his normally perfectly-controlled face. He didn't know what had happened to the boy, but he knew it must have been a painful past. He knew, boy did he know, that no person should have eyes like Naruto's. He could only wonder about the boy. Where was the boy from? How did he know Konoha so well? Was he a spy? And why does he remind me on myself when I was younger?

With these thoughts in mind, he entered the Hokage tower with Naruto and Kushina.

0o0

~Time Skip~

It had been a year since Naruto had arrived in the past. His life, to put it simply, was great. He was made a jounin, on the account of

A) When he got there, he was wearing a jounin vest.

B) The tests to show his skills clearly showed that he was clearly above jounin.

And C) Naruto wouldn't be anything other than a jounin.

The villagers liked him a lot, and he got along great with the kids. He trained everyday, practicing his kenjutsu-taijutsu (as well as separately) combo, and his nin-jutsu under a SS-class kenjutsu, on training field 131. No one thought to look for him there, believing that he may be practicing at the training fields at his house. Which brought him to another point of his great life; he was living with his parents.

It was decided that he would live with Minato, and therefore Kushina. He didn't mind, and neither did Kushina. The three of them got along great, almost like a real family. Though Naruto was careful, he almost slip sometimes, calling Minato 'dad', though he was able to correct it before anyone could catch it.

Though Naruto didn't like lying to them, he had no choice but to keep his past from his unknowing parents. He doubted if they'd believe him if he told them the truth, so whenever his past was brought up, he'd act uncomfortable, making Kushina and Minato guilty enough to quickly change the subject.

And while he enjoyed life as it was at the moment, Naruto knew to be in guard. He knew that this happiness, no matter how much he wanted it to, would not last forever. He knew something was coming, and whatever it was, it was going to be bad. But little did he know that that something was coming, and soon.

0o0

It had been a normal occurrence to see the Yondaime with his make-shift family going out to dinner, specifically Ichiraku's Ramen Bar. The three were happily chatting away, eating their ramen as they normally did.

The three of them jumped in their seats when there was a scream. All three turned around to a blinding flash of light. All covered their eyes, so to not be blinded. When the light had faded away, it had left all stunned.

Standing there was a boy about 5' 10". He was wearing a white, long-sleeved shirt, that was open, revealing his chest. He was wearing standard black ANBU pants, and black shinobi sandals. He had a sword, which was strapped horizontally across his back. Though his most stunning features were his jet clack hair, and his matching black eyes.

He looked around at the crowd until he spotted Naruto. He smirked, sending chills down the backs of villagers.

"It looks like you survives, Naruto."

And cut! That's the end. Review. Until next time!


	5. Chapter 5

Hello! How are you all? I have a headache, yet I write this 'cause of you guys, so you better appreciate it! xD Anyways, sorry about taking so long for this chapter. I don't really get the time to go onto the computer, so I try my best to write whenever I can. And about that new story I'm writing. I'm half-way through it, so maybe I'll be able to publish it today, maybe not. Depends on my head. And sorry for any mistakes, too. %)

Anyways, (again, xD) Onward with the story!

~Recap~

He looked around at the crowd until he spotted Naruto. He smirked, sending chills down the backs of villagers.

"It looks like you survived, Naruto."

~End Recap~

Naruto looked at his ex-teammate in shock, dread, and hatred. His eyes narrowed, and he glared at him. But that was when he noticed something strange. Sasuke's body was wavering. His eyes narrowed even more so. 'Wavering? Is it a genjutsu?' He thought to himself as he pushed a little of Kyuubi's chakra to his eyes. The kenjutsu dissolved for him immediately, and who he saw was quite unexpected.

"What the hell?" He asked aloud. Minato turned and gave him a scolding glare, though soon noticed that it was no good, seeing that his son was focused on the newcomer, rather than him.

Naruto surveyed his surroundings, keeping one eye on the newcomer the whole time. By now, the shinobi had evacuated the civilians far enough from them so they wouldn't get injured. There were only a couple handfuls of ninja there.

Bringing his full attention back, he cautiously stepped toward the newcomer. Now standing only a few feet away from the newcomer, Naruto spoke.

"Who are you, and what are you doing with the fire-bird?" He asked. If he was who Naruto thought he really was, the answer would be one of the strangest, if not weirdest, things the other shinobi would hear in their careers.

"I am who I am, and I have the fire bird to do as I see fit, as it never burns." The newcomer replied, smoothly. The shinobi had no idea what they were talking about, and were going to attack, but Naruto had already moved.

He launched himself at the man with his arms open wide, an incredible happy look on his face. The man held out his arms and caught Naruto with ease, as if he had done this multiple times before.

If they weren't confused before, the shinobi in that group were now. Why was Naruto hugging the man in an intimate way? And who was that man?

"You still haven't really answered the question." Kushina said, walking towards the front of the group. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?"

Her demanding voice brought the other shinobi out of their confusion, and they brought out their weapons, on guard.

Not letting go of Naruto, the newcomer turned Naruto toward Kushina, and released his genjutsu. What they saw surprised them all.

There stood a man, in his late teens, (17-20, people), who was about 5' 11", and had the attire for a Konoha jounin. His black hair was into a ponytail created at the nape of his neck, and went about half-way down his back. He had pale skin, and black eyes, just as the genjutsu had showed, as well as hollow cheeks.

"My name is Itachi," Itachi explained in his emotionless voice, the smirk on his face leaving long ago, though his eyes danced in a mixture of amusement and mirth. "And my reason for being here," He continued, placing one of his hands on Naruto's head, who pouted at the action. "Is to take care of him."

"What are you talking about?" Minato asked, suspicion layering his voice. Though Naruto was too old to be his son, Minato had treated him like one, and thus, was not too pleased at how Itachi was holding Naruto.

"Yeah, and how are you alive?" Naruto asked, his eyes looking up at Itachi, who was behind him. "I, of all people, was pretty sure that you were dead. I saw your body."

A flicker of a smile passed Itachi's face as he looked towards Naruto. "Do you really want to know?" He asked in a voice that said that he would tell you, though it was something that you wouldn't want to hear.

"I think I'll pass he he he…" Naruto paled slightly, thinking of ways that Itachi could have survived, or better yet, been brought back to life.

"I'm here for a reason, a reason you know very well." Itachi's eyes hardened. "He's coming."

At those two words, all the color drained Naruto's face, and he sagged into Itachi.

Noticing that this was something important to discuss, Minato dismissed the shinobi, and gave them the order to return the civilians back to their houses, and to resume everyday procedures..

"Let's go to my estates and discuss there," Minato said in a tone that couldn't be refused. Itachi nodded, and half carried, half-dragged Naruto with him as they went back to the Namikaze estates. Upon entering, Kushina went to the kitchen to make some tea, and Minato led Itachi to the living room. He activated privacy seals, which were of his own creation.

Itachi, still holding on to Naruto sat onto the couch, with his feet spread apart slightly, and laid Naruto in his lap. Naruto leaned against his chest, still pale from the news that he had received.

The whole time, Minato was staring with eyebrows raised, wondering what sort of connection those two had.

When Kushina came in, she wasn't even phased at what she saw. She set the cups of tea on the table, and sat down. She looked to Minato, who nodded.

"So, who exactly are you, why are you here, and who is this person that you mentioned?" Minato demanded, his authority as a Hokage spreading throughout his demeanor.

"As I said before," Itachi said. "My name is Itachi. I am a jounin ninja. I am here to take care of Naruto." He paused, looking down at Naruto, who was starting to fall asleep, as he had done so in the past.

"What do you mean, take care of him?" Kushina asked. She was observing the way Itachi held Naruto, and knew they held a special bond together, one that was not easily broken.

"It is exactly as I said," Itachi explained, looking up from Naruto. "There is someone coming here, soon, who has the power destroy Konoha." Minato looked a bit shocked, not exactly expecting to here what he just had.

"He is very dangerous," Itachi continued. "Though Naruto has always been able to have a some-what even match with him. He's obsessed with killing him, though I shall not tell you why. That is something for Naruto, and only him, to tell you." The two unknowing parents looked to Naruto who, by now, was fast asleep on Itachi's chest.

"So, what you're saying is," Minato began. "You're someone we don't know anything about, coming here to take care of Naruto, who will soon be facing a psychotic man who wants to kill him?" Itachi nodded, and Minato frowned.

"Well, that's rather messed up now, isn't it?" Minato asked, scratching the back of his head. The earlier mix of amusement and mirth came back to Itachi's eyes.

"You're the same as you were before, Yondaime-sama," Itachi murmured to himself, so that only Naruto, who was asleep, would be able to hear it.

"I see," Kushina said, a thoughtful look on her face. "And how do you plan to 'take care of him', if I might ask?" Kushina asked, looking straight into Itachi's eyes.

"I will be training him every day in such ways where he will be able to beat him." Itachi responded, confidence slipping through his emotionless mask.

"And do you, by any chance, know who this person is?" Kushina asked.

Itachi looked at them in their eyes, his gaze unwavering. "He's the one who put a hole through Naruto's chest. Twice." Itachi's voice was hard, and very cold.

Kushina and Minato's blood ran cold. This boy that was coming, he was the one who put a hole into their pretty much -everything-except-in-paper- son?

"Then please, so train him, Itachi-san," Minato agreed, his voice having a hardness that was usually unheard of.

There was silence as the three were lost in thoughts, taking a sip of tea every now and then. At one point, though he (surprisingly) didn't realize it, he started running his fingers through Naruto's hair. When Kushina glanced over to Itachi and Naruto, the question resurfaces.

"By the way," she asked. "How are you and Naruto connected?" Minato looked at Itachi, breaking loose from his thoughts to hear the answer to this question.

Itachi smirked. "Naruto and I are lovers."

And cut! Ha! You people actually thought that Sasuke would be in this early? Pft! The story would be over within the next two chapters! Anyways, how'd you like it? There isn't going to be any lemons in this story, though the two will get intimate in this story. This story, after all, is a Naruto/Minato-Kushina family fic. So it'll be concentrated in the family, not on the son and his boyfriend. xD Please review!


	6. Chapter 7

A/N: Some of you people give me headaches. Some of you don't . Now, I shall make this perfectly and absolutely clear (ruining this chapter a bit) : THIS IS NOT, and I repeat, NOT A YAOI. I never intended, or planned this story to be a yaoi. It is purely a Namikaze/Uzumaki (whichever last name you want, I don't care) fanfic between the family. I'm sorry for any misunderstandings, but, for the count, Naruto IS straight. In this story, he won't have any relationships because I'm not interested in writing them, and I'm bad at writing them.

The relationship between Itachi and Naruto is STRICTLY teacher/student, though Itachi may treat Naruto as the younger brother he never had (hint: it's obvious who he doesn't like here). I can't write a yaoi if it'd save me my life (I'm just totally unknowledgeable on how to write them). As for Itachi's preference, I honestly couldn't tell you. I don't know, and I don't care, really. Its for the story only.

But now I'm uber sad 'cause five people have taken me off their story alerts (and their favorites, for that matter) so they'll never know how the story will turn out. *Sigh* Oh well, sucks for them, I still have 61 story alerts. And I figured out what c2 means! Its communities, and my story's in three of them! (Claps hands excitedly)

So, for those who don't stay, /.\ For those who stay, though, I thank you and enjoy the story! Onward march! P.s. this is the real chapter 6.

~Recap~

"By the way," she asked. "How are you and Naruto connected?" Minato looked at Itachi, breaking loose from his thoughts to hear the answer to this question.

Itachi smirked. "Naruto and I are lovers."

~End Recap~

At that, Naruto, who was paying attention, as he was always on alert, flashed open his eyes. He took the (surprisingly) unknowing hand, and flipped him hard onto his back.

"What the hell are you talking about!" Naruto demanded, crossing his arms, staring down at the flinching Itachi with an icy cold glare. "We can't be something that has yet to happen!"

Itachi, who had stopped flinching, just smirked at the young(er) blond.

"That's what you think," Itachi replied smugly. And for that, he was tossed out of the room and into the backyard, knockout style.

By then, Minato and Kushina were laughing at the two young shin obi's antics. They believed Naruto to still be a virgin (after all, he was only 13) and didn't think he was rooting for the other team* at all.

"Well, now that that's settled," Minato jumped in before Naruto could hurt the already unconscious Itachi more so. "He can stay here. And he _will_ stay in another room, if that's what you want, Naruto." Minato had quickly added the last part, seeing the killing intent Naruto was starting to leak. It definitely wouldn't be good if his killing intent got any worse.

"It's getting late," Kushina commented, changing the conversation to a new subject. "We should all get to bed. You do have another mission tomorrow, right Naruto?" Kushina asked.

When Naruto nodded, Kushina smiled. "Well, then you better get to bed. Minato will take care of Itachi-san, won't you dear?" Kushina stated in a sickeningly sweet voice that produced no argument.

"Right," Minato, sweat-dropping a bit, and scratched the back of his head. "'Night kiddo," Minato said, rubbing Naruto's head, who pouted cutely at that.

"Yeah, yeah, 'night," Naruto grumbled, heading towards his room.

Minato sighed. Kushina just lightly chuckled. Minato walked over to the conscious form of Itachi, who was just waking up.

"He's younger, and he can _still_ pack a punch that hard," Itachi murmured to himself, thinking that no one would hear him, while sub-consciously rubbing his almost broken jaw.

Minato almost faltered in his steps, though he was able to cover it up wit Hough anyone noticing. 'Younger? What does he mean by that?' Minato thought. 'Is he implying that he knew Naruto when he was older than 13? But how is that possible?' Minato was mulling over these thoughts as he put on a smile while helping Itachi up.

"You alright there, Itachi-san?" Minato asked, obviously referring to his wounds.

"Yes," Itachi replied, with an inaudible sigh. "I've experienced worse."

Minato chuckled. "I can somehow believe that." He started walking towards the guest rooms. "If you'll follow me, I'll lead you to the rooms you'll be staying in for your stay."

Itachi merely nodded as he followed Minato through his house to the rooms in which he would be staying in.

Upon arriving at his room, Minato wished him a good night, as did Itachi. When he was alone, Itachi changed out of his jounin wear, and changed into a simple sleeveless t-shirt (black) and normal jounin pants (also black).

As he lay down on his bed, he thought about what had happened. It was for the best, that he had been able to come back here, to this time. He knew his revenge-crazed brother would do everything in his power to kill Naruto. He wouldn't stand for it. Naruto was the younger brother he'd rather have. He would have been able to convince his father if not for the fact of the nine-tailed fox.

He sighed again, as he began to think about how he would train Naruto to fight off his younger brother, and soon fell asleep.

(This is not a time-skip)

Over the course of the next few months, Naruto trained hard every day, being pushed to his limits by Itachi. He'd go on missions, though those were very limited because of Minato's somewhat over protectiveness of him. He didn't mind too much, but he wasn't used to having someone worry over him like that. Sure, Iruka had treated him to ramen, and had come to check up on him every now and then, but that was it. He had never gotten this sort of attention before, being the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Youko. Not that he minded having the Kyuubi there, but it was a very painful childhood. He could only pray that his father didn't get Inoichi onto him. He wouldn't know how to stop them from figuring out his terrible past.

Naruto sighed; he was currently taking a quick break in his mindscape, and he was practicing his kenjutsu-taijutsu combo with Kyuubi (he really had to get a name for it. It was troublesome, as Shika would say, to keep calling it that). Minato had him practicing meditation (which he already knew, thanks to a certain Hyuuga prodigy) and so, he was practicing his skills mentally, while giving his body a rest.

Naruto thought he was making great progress with kenjutsu-taijutsu combo (he really needed a new name for it)*. He could hold his own against Kyuubi for a while now, which was a major accomplishment. There were a few flaws, though they were minor, and he wouldn't have to worry about them in battle.

"You are improving greatly, Kit," Kyuubi told him as he rested. "You've come a long way since you came back here."

Naruto beamed with pride. It was rare that Kyuubi gave compliments, and Naruto took the few he got in gratefully.

"That's all we'll do for today," Kyuubi continued. "since you've pretty much grasped this, you don't need to concentrate on this as much anymore. Come back tomorrow, and we will begin the process of controlling my 7th tail."

If it was possible, Naruto became even more ecstatic. He and Kyuubi had been working on his control over the nine tails, and for Kyuubi to deem him ready to start controlling the 7th tail (which he had been told had been the hardest of all tails to control), he was pleased.

Emerging from his mindscape, he schooled his emotions into his normal look. He opened his eyes and looked out over the backyard. It was sunset, and this was his favorite time of day to meditate. It was always beautiful; there was a koi pond in the backyard, and a bridge over the pond. The plants and trees were well cut, and gave off the look of peacefulness. Often, his parents would find him here (or so he had been told) and they watched him for a while, his eyes nostalgic. Naruto had to admit he thought of the times from the academy where he'd sneak out with Chouji, Shika and Kiba.

But today he was remembering the times he'd had as a member of Team 7. His heart saddened, and he willed the over-flowing tears away. He was the only true member left of Team 7. Sakura and Kakashi were killed in the fight against Akutsuki, though they weakened Pein enough to where Naruto could take him out. Sai had disappeared, and when Naruto had gotten news of Sai, he was practically heart-broken.

Sai had been killed during the Akutsuki attack. The recovery teams hadn't found him for nearly a month afterwards. They found him, a sword straight through his chest, his hand clutching the sketchbook that Sakura and he had given Sai for his birthday. Naruto had cried fir the rest of that day, the tears not ending. And he had thought that he couldn't cry as much as he had when his Sensei, his baa-chan and Sakura had died. And with Sasuke gone, it had broken him.

Try as he might, Naruto could no longer hold in the unshed tears that he had kept in so long. And so he wept.

And done! How'd ya like that? Please review! (nice ones, mind you, there have been too many mean ones today).


	7. Chapter 8

Hi hi! I really am sorry. This was supposed to be out last week. I've been having computer problems (damn them) and they've prevented me from updating any sooner. Also, I haven't had much time. What a drag.

But anyways, I am trying to make the chapters longer, and I'm sorry if I fail. This chapter, though, _should _be long. If it's not, well then it's not. And _thank you very much _to the person who gave me the idea for the name of Naruto's kenjutsu-taijutsu combo. And I am very sorry I don't remember your name. I'm terrible like that.

Also, I'm not the best at writing fight scenes, so bare with me. Now, onward and enjoy! P.s. The language will (I'm not exactly sure how heavy) be on the heavy side.

Here's a quick listing of how the story's going so far:

Reviews: 57

Hits: 8,922

C2s: 2

Favorites: 57

Alerts: 77

Thanks so much for the support!

~Recap~

Sai had been killed during the Akutsuki attack. The recovery teams hadn't found him for nearly a month afterwards. They found him, a sword straight through his chest, his hand clutching the sketchbook that Sakura and he had given Sai for his birthday. Naruto had cried fir the rest of that day, the tears not ending. And he had thought that he couldn't cry as much as he had when his Sensei, his baa-chan and Sakura had died. And with Sasuke gone, it had broken him.

Try as he might, Naruto could no longer hold in the unshed tears that he had kept in so long. And so he wept.

~End Recap~

It was a beautiful day in Konoha; the sky was a bright blue with no clouds, and the sun was shining brightly. The civilians were going about in their usual manner, talking with friends, shopping for groceries, and watching their kids. The shinobi, too, were doing their usual routines. Some were on guard duty, some training, and some relaxing and enjoying their free time, which they rarely got. And there were the few who were teaching at the Academy, in a good mood despite the loudness of their students.

It was peaceful. As if the calm before a storm.

Naruto was one of those who were relaxing. More specifically, though, he was sleeping. It was around one in the afternoon, and Naruto was taking a nap after some serious training he had gone through. He had decided to train in Sage Mode. (Jiraiya had thought it a great idea when he asked to sign the contract, and to get acquainted with Gamabunta.) And since he hadn't practiced Sage Mode in over a year, he was worn out.

So there he was, sleeping so peacefully against the trunk of a tree, the wind gently blowing his hair. Oh, how he would regret sleeping there that day.

0o0

Minato sighed in relief as he finished the last of the paperwork. God, how he hated paperwork. He knew it was necessary as the leader of the village, but it was such a pain in the ass. Sometimes he wished that there'd be a sudden attack so he'd be able to be on the battlefield. But as soon as those words floated into his mind, he had the worst feeling that something bad was going to happen. And soon.

So it was almost no surprise to him as he was walking through the village square with Sarutobi-sama (the two would consult each other on the finer points of being Hokage every couple of weeks), there was a blinding flash of light, engulfing the town square. When the light faded, Minato immediately knew that this was the 'something' that was going to happen.

All over the town square, (and the village as well, he mused) there was a war taking place. All shinobi were instantly alert, waiting for their Hokage's word to start attacking. Though it seemed they were at a pause for a moment.

The shinobi looked around their surroundings, trying to identify where they were. But then, (as Minato was observing them, and thus saw this) a shinobi with the insignia of four dash marks on his hitai-ate looked over to him, and, without further warning, dashed at full speed, towards him. But, he was stopped when he came within three feet of him.

The shinobi, while he could still control his emotions, could not control the rest of his body. And with that opening, Minato rushed in and stabbed a kunai right through his head.

And so the war continued.

0o0

It was a gruesome battle. There were bodies littered around the streets of the village. A handful of the Chuunin were ordered to evacuate the civilians as quickly as they could. The Konoha shinobi were attacking with full force, and the medic-nins working full time, healing those who had minor injuries, to those who had life-threatening wounds.

Now, though, Minato thought as he dodged and killed another Oto-nin (he had been informed by one of the allies fighting against Oto), he could see that this battle was not going to end for a while. Though they had skill, the enemy had numbers. He could honestly say, though, that the enemy had no chance against them. As he fought, he observed some of the younger ninja fight.

Though they were young, it was clear that they were the cream of the crop, and were the future leaders of their village (whatever it was). As he knocked out the group of Oto-nin away from him, he looked around at the other shinobi. It seemed that the current Clan Heads were finished, and were watching the ally fight.

Minato's eyes widened as he watched two if the allies fight against a large group of Oto-nin. One was a girl with dark blue hair, that went to her waist. The other was a boy with brown hair that, too, went down to his waist, though he was taller than the girl. But that's not what surprised him.

"You are in our field of divination." The two said together as their Byakugan's appeared, and the began to (quickly) take down the enemy with the Juuken. But as soon as that group was defeated, a new wave came in.

And as the Clan Heads immersed themselves back into battle, they all were thinking similar thoughts; 'Will we make it out of this was alive?'

0o0

Naruto woke up with a start, hearing an explosion. And when his eyes opened, he cursed up a storm. He could smell the blood, and he could hear the jutsus being called out. He mentally slapped himself; what as he doing sleeping when there was a fucking war going on.

"Damn." He growled out as he headed towards the place with the most blood. This was not a great way to wake up. There was an enemy attacking. And it was Oto. 'This is bloody fan-fucking-tastic.' He thought to himself. 'And here I was, deciding to tell Minato and Kushina the truth, when a bloody war happened, and with Oto no less.' And then he stopped short, eyes widening. How could Oto be attacking when it didn't even exist yet? Naruto's complexion paled slightly as he figured out what had happened. Future Konoha was in a war with Oto, and they came back to the past.

Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose before he went running, at full speed, to stop the war.

0o0

As he entered the main part of the village, he scrunched his nose at the smell of blood. 'If it's this bad for me, I really feel sorry for Kiba.' But he didn't stop as he headed towards the main square, using the rooftops as passage-way.

When he got there, he saw all of his friends fighting alongside their unknowing parents. Despite the situation, he couldn't help but chuckle a little. Such an ironic situation.

Naruto shook his head and cleared his mind. This was not the time to be fooling around. Though what he was going to do next, he mused, wasn't exactly serious. Oh well. He smiled mischievously. He did the Kage Bunshin and created two clones.

"You know what to do," Naruto said, the same smile still on his face. The clones nodded, each sharing the smile that Naruto had. The two lifted him from either sides, and they started rocking him forward. While they did this, Naruto decided to drop the henge. And in doing so, he was now in his twenty-year-old body, with his katana. The two clones grunted at the new weight, but continued rocking him back and forth. When they had accumulated enough speed, they went back as far as their arms could go. In that moment of time, Naruto quickly observed the battle grounds. Without most of them realizing it, sand was making their way around all the Konoha shinobi. Naruto smirked. Gaara had sensed him. He wasn't the Kazekage for nothing.

And with that final thought, the two bunshins chucked their Boss as hard as they could at the large group of Oto-nins waiting to attack the rest of the Rookie Eleven. (A/U: if you don't know what the Rookie Eleven is, I suggest you go Google it.)

And when they chucked him, Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs, "RAAAAAMMMEEEEEEENNN!" And, at incredible speeds, rocketed towards the group of Oto-nin. And all the while, he was thinking, 'This is going to be so much fun.'

0o0

To say they were shocked was rather an understatement. All of the shinobi present, whether they be Oto of Leaf, jumped at the rather boisterous war cry. And when the source of the war cry was identified, the Leaf-nin almost felt sorry for the Oto-nin. Almost.

A certain blond ninja had rocketed from god knows where, effectively surprising the Oto-nin. With his katana in hand, Naruto began his assault on the Sound. His movements were graceful, and no movements were wasted. Within a few minutes, the large group of Oto-nin had been completely decimated, Naruto only leaving a few unconscious, so they could later on be interrogated (if they would even say anything.)

It was pretty much uphill form there. Once the Oto-nin saw who they were up against, they tried to get away, their expressions showing pure fear at the late arrival.

With the time period of an hour, the war that waged between Konoha and the unknown shinobi had ceased, for which all the Leaf-nin were thankful for. And as the Clan Heads met up to briefly discuss what had happened before they dispersed to check up on their families, they observed Naruto carefully. No longer was the Naruto they knew. Here, there was a hardened shinobi, who had gone through many pains.

Upon further inspection, each Clan Head in the shinobi part of the council had widened eyes. Naruto was no longer his short, fourteen-year-old self. Naruto was around six feet now. His golden locks now reaching a little above the middle of his back. His baby fat ceased to exist, although he still had tanned skin with his whisker marks upon his cheeks. Aside from that, he was wearing the normal jounin dress code. His jounin vest had been modified to, what they assumed to be, extra pockets for his scrolls. And when he turned towards them, his eyes were of the deepest cerulean blue they had ever seen. All-in-all, he was a replica. Of their Fourth Hokage.

But what happened next, the Clan heads, as well as the rest of the shinobi present, would not be forgotten for a long time.

0o0

Naruto was cleaning away the blood that had accumulated on his katana whilst fighting the Oto-nin. It was then when his friends decided to come over.

"Naruto!" Various people called him. All the attention was now on him and on his friends.

"Thank god you're alive, man," Kiba said, patting him on the back. "Most of the villagers thought you were dead. Taking two Chidori's to the chest, and surviving both times. You've got Lady Luck on your side, that's for sure. Well, I guess that's why you're called the Second-" But Kiba was interrupted when Ino hit him upside the head.

"Baka!" She exclaimed. "You really can't tell the difference in atmospheres, can you?" The second part was whispered. And she was right; the atmosphere had gone from relaxed to tense at Kiba's words.

Realizing his mistake, Kiba rubbed the back of his head. "Whoops," He said.

"Whoops is right," Ino muttered, glaring daggers at Kiba. But that had stopped as soon as laughter had been heard.

Naruto's laugh rang throughout the village square, sounding like soft, but low chimes in the wind. The Rookie Eleven, as well as the Sand Siblings, smiled. They hadn't heard that laugh in so long. And to them, the weight of knowing there may be a chance that their beloved Hokage may be dead, was lifted. All the shinobi present could see that, and knew that Naruto was irreplaceable to these people.

"You're still the same old mutt as you were back then, Kiba," Naruto said lightly, a wide grin still on his face.

Kiba scowled at that, making the rest of the young shinobi in that group laugh. "Well, you certainly haven't changed either, have you, you ramen-obsessed knuckle-head." Kiba retorted, smirking. The group had laughed at that, too, along with Naruto, who laughed the loudest.

It was nice for the shinobi present to watch; they had all gotten to know Naruto, they hadn't seen him laugh so care free before.

"Troublesome," Came a lazy voice from the back. All eyes shifted to the voice, who slowly approached Naruto. Although he was complaining, he had a smile on his face.

When he reached Naruto, Naruto smiled. "You haven't changed a bit, have you Shika?" Naruto teased. Shikamaru just smiled some more, and they knuckle-touched, knowing that everything was good.

"I've gotten into contact with the others," Shikamaru reported in a more serious voice, causing some of the Clan heads to raise an eyebrow.

Naruto was one of those who raised an eyebrow. "'Others'? what are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

Before Shikamaru could say anything else, a voice shouted out to Naruto. "Nii-chan!"

Naruto and the others looked over to see who had shouted when Naruto was ambushed by three blurs.

"Nii-chan!" This time, Naruto identified the voice to be Konohamaru, which meant that the other two blurs were Udon and Moegi.

"Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon," Naruto greeted with a sincere smile. "Its good to see you."

"Nii-chan, we missed you so much. Why did you have to leave?" Konohamaru, who was in the middle of the three, squeezed his waist tighter.

Naruto put a hand on Konohamaru's head. "Gomen ne, Konohamaru. I didn't mean to. I didn't have a choice." Naruto's voice, though he tried to cover it up, was lightly laced with pain, replied.

"Naruto-kun," a kind voice put in after the three now-chuunin let go of him. The Clan Heads paid attention to this girl, one of the two who had used the Byakugan. "It's good to see you again. We all missed you. The village wasn't the same without you." Though soft-spoken, her voice held refinement, elegance and confidence.

"I missed everyone, too." Naruto replied. "It's been quite a while since we've seen each other. We really need to catch up on what we've missed." Naruto replied with a grin.

"Oh, yes, you have some catching up to do, Naruto." Naruto looked over to Shikamaru, who had a couple of scrolls in his hand. Naruto paled instantly, knowing exactly what those scrolls were.

"Yup," Ino said, placing a firm hand on Naruto's shoulder. "You have plenty to catch up on, Naruto."

Shikamaru started walking towards Naruto, but before he could get to him, Naruto made a kage bunshin and did a quick kawarimi, landing himself safely, if not quickly, upon his father's back, back in his fourteen year old body. All in the course of a second.

Minato, who wasn't exactly prepared for this, almost fell over with the unexpected weight added to his body.

"Naruto," He whined. The shinobi laughed at their Hokage's misfortune, while Naruto just stuck his tongue out at Shikamaru, who was looking at him with annoyance.

"If you want it done sp badly, give it to Gaara; he can do it. I don't want to." Naruto said childishly, causing the older shinobi to laugh some more.

Gaara stepped forward, having his usual emotionless face showing, though there was amusement showing clearly in his eyes.

"Do it yourself, Naruto," Gaara told him. "You wanted the job, so you have to do it yourself. God knows I have enough as it is." At that, Gaara's two older siblings snickered, despite the glare that he gave them.

"Well," Minato said, making sure he had a firm grip on his all-but-in-papers son. "You ready to go home, kiddo?" He asked. Naruto nodded, yawning before he laid his head on his father's shoulder. Within moments he was sound asleep.

Minato chuckled good-naturedly. "Well it looks like he wore himself out." Minato looked at Naruto fondly before consulting his shinobi.

"Good job everyone; we suffered few casualties, and landed a large blow to the enemy. Those who have fought, go home and get some rest; there are already other chuunin and genin starting to repair damages and clean up the mess. " Minato smiled at his troops before looking at the group of assembled Clan Heads.

"If you wouldn't mind, please set up their accommodations." Minato asked, taking a glance at the shinobi standing a little ways away from him.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," The Clan Heads replied, bowing to their Hokage, right arm crossed diagonal over their chests. Minato nodded, and used his Hiraishin to disappear along with the sleeping Naruto.

It was at this point that the Clan Heads noticed that none of the other teenagers had said anything. They saw not looks of irritation, but the looks of weariness, relief, and strangely, guilt.

"Aren't you going to go after him?" Hiashi inquired the group of teenage shinobi.

"No, we're not," Came a voice from the middle of the group. It was the other Byakugan user, the male one. "We're not going to get in the way of something he rightfully deserves." Neji replied to Hiashi. The rest of the rookies and the Sand Siblings nodded their agreement, causing the remaining shinobi to look at them questioningly.

"Well then, let's move along now," Hisashi spoke up. "Everyone is tired, and all of you deserve a rest for your hard efforts." The teen shinobi smiled, and went with their respective hosts to their accommodations. Little did the hosts know that they were leading their unborn children into their homes.

0o0

When Minato arrived at the Namikaze grounds, he was warmly greeted by his fiancée, who just smiled when she saw Naruto on Minato's back.

Kushina walked with Minato as they headed towards Naruto's room. Upon entering it, they briefly looked around. The bed was in the corner farthest away from the door on the opposite wall. He had papers all over the desk that Minato had gotten him, as well as multiple ink pots and brushes.

Minato smiled proudly as he quickly glanced at his son's works; he had to hand it to Naruto, his calligraphy was impressive. He even saw some seals that he wasn't familiar with. 'I'll have to compare notes with him sometime,' Minato thought to himself as he put Naruto on the bed and began stripping him of his bloodied clothes.

Kushina, by then, had already gotten out a pair of pajamas for Naruto, which consisted of a white tank top, and some pajama shorts.

Minato put on his son's ridiculous sleeping cap, before pulling up the covers and kissing him on the forehead. He put a hand on Naruto's blond hair, thinking to the events that had just taken place earlier.

'We'll talk in the morning,' Though Minato as he quietly walked towards the door. But as he was about to exit, he saw a large picture hanging on the wall. Examining it further, his eyes went wide. It was a picture of the Rookie Eleven with the Sand Siblings. They were all bunched up in a group in front of the Hokage Tower, all wearing formal attire.

At the bottom of the large picture, there was a caption explaining the picture.

Starting at the left towards the middle: Clan Heads Subaku no Temari, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Akamichi Chouji, and Hyuuga Hinata.

Starting from the right towards the middle: Clan Heads Subaku No Kankuro, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, Higurashi Tenten, Rock Lee, and Hyuuga Neji.

In the middle: Godaime Kazekage, Subaku no Gaara, and Rokudaime Hokage, Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto.

And that's it! It's longer! I hope you enjoy! Please Review! I like putting exclamation marks! xD


	8. Chapter 98

Hello! It's time for another installment! I really am sorry for not updating last week. I'm finishing it up as we speak, and there are already 16 pages. Too much, y'think?

I'm sorry about the confusion on reviewing. I was trying to delete the Author's Note, and I epically failed. So, sorry 'bout that.

Next, here are some warnings that I feel must be stated before reading this. _**WARNING: This chapter WILL be violent. It will have mentions of abuse, rape, and heavy language. If you do not wish to read this, I suggest you skip to other parts.**_

Oh, and by the way, I don't really like Danzo, Koharu or Homura, so they won't really show up in this story. Now, Onward with the story!

~Recap~

'We'll talk in the morning,' Though Minato as he quietly walked towards the door. But as he was about to exit, he saw a large picture hanging on the wall. Examining it further, his eyes went wide. It was a picture of the Rookie Eleven with the Sand Siblings. They were all bunched up in a group in front of the Hokage Tower, all wearing formal attire.

At the bottom of the large picture, there was a caption explaining the picture.

Starting at the left towards the middle: Clan Heads Subaku no Temari, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Akamichi Chouji, and Hyuuga Hinata.

Starting from the right towards the middle: Clan Heads Subaku No Kankuro, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, Higurashi Tenten, Rock Lee, and Hyuuga Neji.

In the middle: Godaime Kazekage, Subaku no Gaara, and Rokudaime Hokage, Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto.

~End Recap~

Minato did not sleep well that night. Part of it could be blamed on the attack; he never could sleep well after he had killed. But, most of it could be blamed on the picture he saw last night. How had he missed the picture? He'd gone through the room so many times, on that same path entering and leaving the room. Maybe it was a genjutsu, he mused. That could explain why he had never seen the picture before.

But the name. Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto. He couldn't believe it. How could Naruto be his son? He was only a handful or so years younger than he was himself, when he had seen Naruto in what was, apparently, his real form.

So, this was why, only a few minutes later, the shinobi Clan Heads had all received a visit from a toad summon, informing them that there was a Council meeting for the shinobi tomorrow, and requiring them to bring their guests with them. Minato, after ascertaining that all those required to come, would come, he went to bed, and so fell into a restless sleep.

Minato sighed as he knocked on Naruto's door. Receiving no answer, he knocked again. Again not receiving an answer, Minato opened the door to find that Naruto was asleep, and by the looks of it, in a deep sleep. He smiled slightly, taking notice of how he had somehow managed to take his shirt off, leaving him only in the pajama shorts.

Chuckling, Minato walked over and shook Naruto's shoulder gently to wake him up. It didn't work. Minato tried again, this time, a little harder. When Naruto still wouldn't wake up, Minato sighed in resignation. He pulled the white tank-top over Naruto's head before walking over to the wall. Taking out a scroll, he sealed the picture on the wall into it, putting it in his kunai pouch, before going back to Naruto. Picking him up bridal style, he then left his clan grounds using Hiraishin to get to the Council meeting.

It only took him a brief time to get to the Hokage tower. As he walked towards the Council room, he got looks from other shinobi in the building. He chuckled. He could understand why they were staring at him; it wasn't everyday that the Hokage came in, carrying one of his own ninja, who also had an incredible similarity to the Hokage himself.

As he got to the Council room, he could sense the different chakra sources gathered there, all feeling the same emotion: What are we doing here?

Entering the room, all the ninja present, minus the ANBU, bowed. Minato nodded, and sent away his ANBU guards, who seemed somewhat reluctant to leave. As soon as there were no more ANBU left in the room, he put on the strongest privacy seal. Finishing that, he turned towards his audience. The current Clan Heads were on his right side (and this does include the Sarutobi Clan since Hiruzen isn't the Hokage at this point), and Naruto's friends, who he assumed, (based off the picture) were the future Clan Heads, on his left. There were also the three siblings, who were straight across from him, the red-head in the middle.

Doing a one handed seal, a cot appeared with a blanket. Minato gently laid down the sleeping boy, pulling the cover over him. Then, he faced his shinobi once more.

"I am sorry to have called you all out, right after an attack." Minato started. "But something, rather important in my opinion, has been revealed."

"What is it, Hokage-sama?" Asked Hisashi, who, though not being a Clan Head, still attended the meetings to balance the power of his clan.

"As you all know, about a year-and-a-half ago, on the day of my inauguration as Yondaime, we had an…interesting event occur." At this point, the current Clan Heads all looked towards Naruto, who was still in his deep sleep. "And, for various reasons, we could not get any information out of him except for his first name, what his rank was, and how much he loved ramen." At this, everyone in the room laughed.

"Anyways, I have found out some information regarding him." Looks of surprise flew about on the right side of the room. As for the left side, it had gotten tenser.

"Well, what did you find out, Hokage-sama?" Fugaku asked, slightly impatient. He had been trying to get information on the boy for a long while now, but alas, he couldn't find anything.

"First off, he's originally from Konoha." Murmurs on the right side had started, but were quickly cut off as Minato continued. "And his full name is-"

"Excuse me, Hokage-sama," The read-head politely interrupted him. Minato nodded, and he went on. "Who is this 'he' that you speak of? If it pertains to us, we would like to know."

Minato nodded in agreement. "We're talking about him," Minato gestured his hand at Naruto.

"I see," The red-head replied. Although his voice was still polite, it held an icy tone, to which Minato almost shuddered.

"And so," Minato continued. "I found his name to be…" Minato swallowed, still not believing the information himself. "…Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto."

At this, the right side of the room began speaking, cries of disbelief being heard, and looks of shock etched onto their faces. He left side of the room, Minato noticed, had frowns on their faces.

"Hokage-sama," Tsume put in, "How is this so? Is their any proof to what you say?" She asked.

Minato nodded. "I do." And with that, he took out the scroll and unsealed the picture. Needless to say, all the current Clan Heads were shocked. But soon, their cries of disbelief became sound, and they all started talking at once. Minato rubbed his temples. This was going to take a while.

But the right side's attention was soon caught by the left's when they heard a loud "Baka!" And a solid thump. They looked over to see Ino with her hand raised over Shikamaru's head, who was rubbing it.

"Baka!" Ino exclaimed again. "You're not supposed to be sleeping at meetings. I swear, you're just like your father, only worse. And don't pull out your cigarettes!" She thumped him on the head again.

This garnered a "troublesome woman" from Shikamaru, who was rubbing his head again.

"You shouldn't be so harsh on him, Ino," Chouji said, with a bag of barbeque chips in his hands. "We need his brain to work, you know." Ino scowled at him, making Chouji back away from her slightly.

"Chouji-san is right!" Lee cried enthusiastically. "It is most unyouthful to hit a fellow comrade over the head! You must-" Lee was, to the thanks of everyone in the room, cut short when a hand clamped over his mouth. The Clan heads looked to Tenten, who had her hand firmly in place over Lee's mouth.

Neji blew out a breath, annoyed. "You really need to learn to control yourself, Lee. You'll end up alone if you keep that up."

"Neji-niisan!" Hinata admonished her cousin. "That was ride. You shouldn't say things like that."

"I am sorry to have upset you Hinata-sama," Neji apologized. "But, if Lee doesn't learn to control his actions, no one will ever date him." Hinata sighed, knowing that what her cousin was saying was the truth, though she didn't like it.

Kiba laughed out loud at that, Akamaru, who was in his chibi form (the size he was when the first Chuunin exams took place) yipping with him.

Meanwhile, the right side, as well as Minato, were watching this with amusement, surprise, and annoyance.

"Well, now that we've gotten that taken care of," Minato interrupted any further conversation from happening. "Would you care to explain yourselves?"

It was at this time Shikamaru became serious. "And what if we tell you? Will you actually believe our tale? It is one not heard that often, and sounds very unrealistic." The left side agreed with this, they, too becoming serious. It was then that the current Clan Heads took notice of the younger side's expression. There was not the free expression that most kids their age, shinobi or not, were expected to have. No, instead of that, were the faces of hardened shinobi, who had been through war, had killed many, and held a fierce loyalty to their leader.

Minato regarded them all seriously. "I will hear what you have to say. Though most may not believe your story, I have enough experience and knowledge to know whether you are lying, or you are telling the truth."

Shikamaru studied him, before he sighed. "Very well then. All of us that you see here," He motioned to the shinobi on his side of the table. "Are from the future." Eyes went wide, but no one interrupted.

"It started out when, upon battling a dangerous missing-nin the reaction was so intense that Naruto was sent back in time. No one knew where he had gone until the villagers started getting sudden memories over the course of the year of a ramen-loving blond. At that, Shikamaru smiled a bit. "It was then that we deduced that somehow, Naruto had gotten sent back into the past, when he arrived here. Since then, we've been developing a way to get back here to bring him where he rightfully belongs." Shikamaru ended his explanation, and looked at the silent crowd. "Any questions?"

"So you're saying that you created a jutsu that allows you to be travel back into the past?" Jiraiya asked, appearing out of nowhere. Shikamaru nodded. "Then does that mean you can go back into the future as well?" Shikamaru nodded again. Jiraiya raised his eyebrows, clearly impressed.

"Alright, so you've traveled back here to out time. I can understand that." Tsume said, bringing the attention to her. "But in the future, who are we to you?"

It was a good question; none of the younger generation said anything. Soon, Tsume got irritated and annoyed at having to wait this long for an answer. "Well?" She asked, her fangs starting to show. It was Ino who responded.

"Well, though it is awkward for us to an extent, you guys are either our mother or fathers. I thought it would be kind of obvious, y'know, seeing the picture and all." Ino replied.

Inoichi frowned. "Respect your elders, young lady." He scolded her.

"But D-" Ino caught herself by slamming a hand over her mouth, her eyes going wide. Inoichi raised an eyebrow at her.

"Ha ha, you got scolded, Ino," Kiba snickered. Ino glared at him.

"I suggest you watch it dog breath, or you're going to find Akamaru bald one of these days," Ino all but hissed.

Kiba growled low at hearing of a threat towards his partner. "I dare you to try." His voice was low, and deadly.

"Oi, watch how you talk to a lady!" Tsume barked out at Kiba. Kiba, though still glaring, said no more and slumped against his seat.

Minato, amused by the going-ons of the occupants of the room, decided to cut in.

"Well, why don't you introduce yourselves, then." Minato suggested, though it was more of an order, rather that a suggestion. And so they went down the line, introducing themselves starting with Shino.

"Aburame Shino."

"Higurashi Tenten."

"Rock Lee."

"Hyuuga Hinata."

"Hyuuga Neji."

"Akamichi Chouji."

"Yamanaka Inoichi."

"Nara Shikamaru."

"Inuzuka Kiba."

"Subaku no Temari."

"Subaku no Kankuro."

"Subaku no Gaara."

At the mention of similar names, the current Clan Heads paid more attention to their own children. Not much attention was paid to the Sand siblings, who really didn't mind. It was then that Fugaku spoke up.

"What about the Uchiha? Do they have another child?" He asked. Itachi was already born, and was doing missions, as a part of ANBU, so not much was seen of him.

At that, the temperature in the room rapidly decreased. It was then that Naruto mumbled something in his sleep.

"…Teme don't…bad, dangerous….Don't go…" A tear fell down Naruto's face. All attention was on him, waiting to see if he would say anymore. He didn't.

The current Clan Heads turned to see what their children's reactions were to what was said. To say the least, they were not happy.

Ino, Hinata, Kiba, Akamaru, (who was growling) Lee, Tenten and Chouji all wore scowls, and did not look pleased. Neji and Shikamaru had killing intent slowly leaking out of them, though they were trying to contain it. Shino's kikaichi were buzzing around, and though no one really saw it, he had a frown on his face, as did Kankuro and Temari. Gaara, having a close bond with Naruto, (them being best friends, after all) he was openly leaking killer intent, a look of hatred on his face.

Minato was the one who asked the next question. "And who exactly was this 'teme'?" Minato asked.

"The one of which you speak," Hinata spit out with venom, her tone icy. "Is one Uchiha Sasuke, S-Class missing-nin of Konohagakure. He has a kill on sight order, as of the late Godaime-sama." The Clan Heads across from Hinata were surprise by her dislike of the Uchiha. They didn't expect someone so kind to have that much venom.

Fugaku, who's normally emotionless face, had become a frown. It deepened at the news of his son being a missing-nin. "And what did he do to earn himself such a reputation/" Fugaku asked.

"He left the village, and attacked a fellow comrade when he tried to bring him back." Shikamaru picked up, knowing that it would be bad if Hinata continued. "And put a hole in his shoulder."

Gasps went around the room. "Who did this happen to?" When Fugaku asked this, they all knew who had gotten injured.

"Naruto," Shikamaru replied. Immediately after, a large killing intent was felt around the room, scaring even the Clan Heads. The source, as they all turned to look, was Minato. He was smiling, but his smile was twitching a lot, indicating that he was severely pissed off.

"Do tell," Minato asked in an eerily clam tone. "Would this 'Sasuke-san' be the one responsible for _putting a hole through my son's chest, almost_ _killing him?" _Minato asked, going from eerily clam to barely concealed rage within an instant. No one asked about the fact that Naruto was his son; they feared that if they asked, they'd get killed.

"A hole through his chest?" Shikamaru repeated. He nodded. "Most likely. The only one who could have done the technique to put a hole through the chest like that is dead."

Minato, who was gripping onto the table, made it crack and shatter into pieces where he was holding it. It was at this point where Naruto cried out in pure fright.

All heads snapped towards the boy, who was now in a tight fetal position. Minato changed from very angry to very worried.

"Naruto, are you alright?" He asked softly, reaching out towards his son. But Naruto screamed, making Minato pause, not understanding what was going on.

"Shit," Shikamaru swore, knowing what was happening. He looked over towards Gaara, who was already put of his seat and hurriedly making his way towards his best friend.

Gaara walked past Minato, and went straight towards Naruto, much to Minato's dislike.

Gaara had stopped one foot step away from Naruto, and kneeled down to his knees. He then put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, and concentrated, closing his eyes.

Everybody in the room was tense, awaiting the red-head's results. When Gaara's eyes reopened, they were filled with worry, rage, hatred, sadness and guilt.

"Hokage-sama," Gaara said briskly, gently picking up Naruto. Minato knew at once and held out his arms for his son. Gaara gently handed Naruto to Minato, who, in turn, cradled Naruto against his body.

Minato sat down in his chair, Naruto securely in his lap. Naruto had calmed down somewhat, but was still shaking. Minato just held him all the tighter.

"What exactly happened to cause this reaction?" Minato asked, in a very unpleasant mood.

Gaara, who had taken back his place between his older siblings, explained.

"Naruto has had a traumatizing past, one I would even shudder at." Gaara began. "Do not take offense at what is about to be said, Hokage-sama, for you, out of everyone here, will not like it."

Minato frowned, but nodded for him to continue.

"To put it simply, Naruto is the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko." Gaara stated, and the Clan Heads eyes widened in shock. Gaara proceeded on before he could be interrupted.

"In the timeline from which we come from, Naruto had been severely abused, beaten within inches of his life a lot of the time. As I took a brief glance before pulling them out, he was tortured on his sixth birthday. He was raped, to put it more accurately, even when he fell unconscious. Needless to say, the ANBU killed the man who did it as soon as he got there."

The room was in silence; in all the females' eyes, despite how hardened they had become, had tears in their eyes. The normally stoic Clan Heads- Shibi, Fugaku, and Hiashi- had sadness in their eyes, layered with guilt. That never should have happened to a six-year-old. Ever. To say the least, no one was pleased.

And then there was Minato. He was barely holding back unrestrained rage at what had happened to Naruto. He held him tighter, getting a whimper from Naruto.

All eyes were on him again, everyone in the room tense. But the tension eased when they saw Naruto snuggle closer to Minato. Minato's eyes had softened considerably at this. He could only hold his son, protect him as best as he could, while he still was able.

"Now," Gaara continued. "There are other things that need to be spoken about…"

0o0

Naruto was in pain; that was the only way to describe it. He had honestly thought that this day would not come again. Oh, how he was wrong.

Naruto knew he couldn't do anything about it, it was part of him being a Jinchuuriki; it was a package deal. Every so often, he'd have to go through the nastier, locked up memories of his childhood, to prove to all the kami that he was still worthy to be a Jinchuuriki. Why, you ask, does he have to go through this? Well, it's all because he himself is a Jinchuuriki.

Its known through the Jinchuuriki that you must prove a way to your bijuu that you're worthy to hold their power. It just so happened that Naruto's had to be in the form of nightmares. The very bad ones.

_~Flashback Start~_

_It was October 10__th__, and Naruto was trying to get home as fast as he could. He shouldn't have even gone out; he knew how dangerous today was._

_Today was the day that Kyuubi was 'supposedly' killed, and that the Yondaime had died. Now, once the villagers had found out that the Kyuubi was sealed in Naruto, they had done everything harmful to him except killing the boy, although they had come close a few times._

_And so, Naruto had learned that, in order to survive his birthdays, he had to remain hidden. But at the moment, he was doing the exact opposite of that._

_Naruto had gone out that day, only because of his jiji. If it weren't for the fact that his jiji would have become suspicious if he hadn't shown, Naruto would never have even thought about going outside. But here he was, outside, in broad daylight, where all the villagers got themselves drunk, and went after Naruto with the intent to kill._

_But, Naruto was very close to his apartment; he could see it, and if he hurried, he'd be safe within his apartment, away from all the villagers. Or so he thought._

_Just as he was opening his door, he was hit hard on the back of his head, and he soon only saw black._

_When he had woken up, he was in an unfamiliar place. 'Where am I?' He thought to himself. 'Who hit me on the back of the head?' His question was soon answered._

"_Well, it looks like the demon brat has awakened." A voice came from somewhere in front of Naruto. Naruto tensed, and only then realized that he was strapped down onto a solid surface._

_He tried to free himself, only to realize it was useless. With eyes layered in fright, he fearfully looked at the man. The man just smiled, and he soon began to do things unmentionable, making Naruto hurt so much. But, just as he thought that he would die from all the whips and lashes and cuts, a red-head appeared._

_The red-head looked at the scene with disgust. For some odd reason, Naruto got the feeling that he knew this person. And the red-head knew him, as well._

_And apparently, the red-head did not like seeing Naruto hurt. So, with a clap, his two hands touched the wall, and for Naruto, everything began to become hazy. Naruto felt a gentle hand smooth his spiky hair out a bit before he was claimed by the land of sleep. And as he fell asleep, he remembered why the red-head was so familiar._

'_Gaara…' Naruto thought before he fell into a deep sleep._

_~End Flashback~_

_

* * *

_

And that's that! How'd you all like it? This, by far, is the longest I have ever written. I might have written more, but I'm really sleepy right now. So, please review, and please continue to read!


	9. Chapter 9

Hello! Bet you didn't expect two chapters in a row, did ya? Well, since it's Naruto's b-day yesterday (October 10th for those who don't know, though most everyone reading this probably knows that by now. I hope.) so I'm going to post another chapter. It may not be that long, it's sort of a filler chapter with a few important aspects, really.

And this is chapter 9, guys. I'm sorry about the chapter 98 confusion. It was supposed to be 9-8. The way I'm posting them, since a lot of things that I'd rather not explain happened, this is the way I'm writing them. The way to tell what the chapter is by the second number. For example, this chapter is 10-9. In this case, the chapter would be 9 because it's the second number. Following me? Cool. So onward, and enjoy!

~Recap~

_The red-head looked at the scene with disgust. For some odd reason, Naruto got the feeling that he knew this person. And the red-head knew him, as well._

_And apparently, the red-head did not like seeing Naruto hurt. So, with a clap, his two hands touched the wall, and for Naruto, everything began to become hazy. Naruto felt a gentle hand smooth his spiky hair out a bit before he was claimed by the land of sleep. And as he fell asleep, he remembered why the red-head was so familiar._

'_Gaara…' Naruto thought before he fell into a deep sleep._

_~End Flashback~_

~End Recap~

Naruto awoke, but didn't open hiss eyes. He wasn't too sure where he was right now, just that he was wrapped in something warm. And he could hear a heartbeat, too. He kept his breathing even as he listened to the conversation. He was shocked by what he heard.

"What's he like in the future?" Someone, believed it was Tsume, getting to know the Clan Head whenever he had gone over to Kiba's.

"What's he like?" Someone rephrased the question. It was Shika. "Well, in the future, he's the Number One Most Unpredictable Knucklehead Ninja, for starters." Naruto could hear the smirk in Shika's voice. There was laughter, including from the person holding him, who he had now guessed to be his dad. Since his ear was right next to Minato's chest, he could feel the vibrations as Minato laughed.

"Is he now?" Minato asked. Naruto could hear the smile in his voice.

"Yeah, now to mention the Prank Master." It was Kiba who said that. "Man, could he pull a prank. I swear, it was always hilarious to see the ANBU go after him. He still hasn't told anybody how he managed to sneak into their headquarters though."

Naruto almost burst out laughing, but managed to keep his expression and breathing calm. He could only imagine their expressions.

"Wait." It was Minato again. "You're saying that he _snuck _into _ANBU headquarters_?" Minato asked, the disbelief layering his voice thoroughly. "_ANBU headquarters_, where there's always someone awake?" Apparently there was a nod, because Minato snorted.

"_Damn. _How did he do that? Even _I _can't do that." Minato said, awe in his voice. Naruto inwardly laughed. He remembered those days. He loved sneaking into the ANBU HQ, because, for some reason, they couldn't catch him. He had believed it was a test of skill to sneak into there. He remembered his favorite prank he had ever done; from a young age, he had been practicing fuinjutsu, and somehow (he didn't remember exactly what seals he did) he had managed to make leaves swirl around the ANBU whenever they had shun-shined. To say the least, the ANBU were baffled as to why that was happening.

Shika laughed. "Yeah, Naruto was really underestimated when we were younger. To say the least, he proved the whole village wrong."

"He was underestimated? Why?" This had come from Jiraiya. He inwardly winced. It had been tough when Jiraiya had died, and seeing and talking to him on a regular basis pushed him to make sure he didn't show any odd emotion, as if he had known the Sage.

There was a silence met with Jiraiya's question; no one really wanted to answer the question, but someone had to, Naruto knew.

It was Hinata who spoke up. "Well," She started. "Besides from personal reasons that you'd have to ask him, his pranks angered many people. People thought that was all he could do, and that's all he showed, considering he was last in the Academy." The silence, but then, oddly enough, Shino spoke.

"Although," He said, surprising the room, as he had not spoken much at the meeting. "With someone as lazy as Shikamaru is, he should have been dead last, not Naruto." At that, the whole room laughed. It was true, Naruto thought. If he had shown a little more of his talents, he may not have ended up dead-last. But the past was the past, and there was nothing that he could do to change it.

It was then that Naruto heard the whirl of a kunai heading straight towards Minato's open chest. For some reason, the ANBU hadn't caught it, and it was approaching at a fast speed. Using his reflexes as trained ANBU operative, Naruto caught the speeding kunai with ease, spinning it even faster than it had been coming at his father, and with sharp accuracy, hurtled it back towards the attacker.

The current Clan Heads were surprised that Naruto had returned that while he was asleep. Naruto, who knew he had to wake up now, opened his eyes. He looked around the room, at the faces that were staring at him, and yawned. He rubbed his eye with his hand in the cute way that little kids do, looking like a little fox cub.

Naruto felt a hand on his head. "Awake now, Naruto?" Mianto asked. Naruto shook his head and snuggled back into his father's chest, deciding that he still needed sleep.

Minato chuckled. "I think you've had enough sleep for now, Naru." Minato used the nickname that he had given Naruto a few months after he had moved in with him and Kushina.

"Yeah, now that you're awake, you can tell us how you snuck into the ANBU HQ." It was Kiba who said this, a smile on his face.

Naruto looked over to Kiba with a sleepy smile. "Can't tell you. Yu-chan would yell at me." Naruto replied with an equally sleepy voice. Everyone heard the face-fault, and looked over to see the ANBU who had face-faulted.

"Neko?" Minato asked. She stepped out of the shadows, facing Minato. "Permission to speak."

She nodded, before she turned her attention to Naruto. "You!" She cried, pointing her finger at him.

"Me!" Naruto replied, smiling at the ANBU.

"Is there something between the two of you?" Minato asked suspiciously, unconsciously holding Naruto closer to himself.

"Not like that, Hokage-sama," Neko laughed a sweet laugh. "But he is to the ANBU. He has taught us many things, except he was a little older."

Everyone in the room, save Naruto and the other ANBU (who were smiling fondly at him behind their masks), was surprised.

"But how was he able to do that?" Neji asked "Unless you had time-travel…" Neji's eyes went wide as he stared at Naruto with blatant disbelief. Naruto smiled at Neji.

"Wait…Then that was how you were able to create the time-travel jutsu, Shikamaru?" Neji asked the lazy genius.

Shikamaru nodded. "Yes. I stumbled upon it by accident while going through his drawers, searching for any sake." He leveled Naruto with an annoyed glare. "Which I did find, you know. Really Naruto, 19 bottles? You're as bad as Tsunade-sama."

Everyone stared at Naruto, jaws hanging on the floor. Naruto chuckled. "19? You must be losing your touch Shika, I had a dozen and a half more hanging around my desk, y'know." If the jaws of the Shinobi could open wider, they would have.

"Anyways, getting back to the subject at hand," Neko started again, regaining the room's attention once more. "Naruto taught us a thing or two, that even we didn't know. It's how the criminal rate went down, Hokage-sama. He showed us different routes throughout the whole village of Konoha which," She added, looking at Minato. "In order to learn, we had to make an oath, making sure that we didn't tell anyone about them."

At this, Minato sent a glare at his son. Naruto looked up to his father. "What? You wouldn't have been able to find them, anyway. Only ANBU can." Naruto explained.

"So you're saying you were an ANBU at one point then, Naruto?" Minato asked, to which Naruto nodded. Surprised murmurs came from the future Clan Heads. The right side of the room (and for those who don't remember, they were the current Clan Heads) looked at the left side.

"We didn't know. We just assumed Tsunade-sama was sending him on B or A-ranked missions whenever he was away. We never guessed that he had gone and joined ANBU." Neji explained, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Naruto nodded. "Yup. I had developed a time-traveling jutsu that allowed me to come back and train the pathetic ANBU, and no, I'm not telling you, Minato." Naruto explained and told Minato without missing a beat.

A pout formed on Minato's face. "Why not?" He asked. "And show some respect to your father, gaki."

"Ha ha," Naruto laughed. "And respect is earned, not given." The wisdom in Naruto's words made everyone in the room stop and think. Exactly what had Naruto experienced to make him that wise?

"Well," Minato said, resealing the cot Naruto had been lying on for the frist half of the meeting. "I believe we've been in here long enough (it'd already been four hours). I adjourn this meeting for the time being. Please go home and rest, and take care if your families." Minato faced Naruto and picked him up, much to Naruto's surprise. "Ready to go home, kiddo?" Minato asked, a warm look in his eyes.

Naruto yawned, made his body to look and feel like an eight-year-old before putting his head on his dad's shoulder, falling asleep again. Minato chuckled. "I guess that's a yes, then." With a wave of his hand, Minato walked out of the room.

For a little bit, the families talked amongst themselves, making small, but pleasant, talk amongst themselves.

And it was brought up in one conversation which had managed to get the attention if the whole room.

"Ino," Inoichi said to his daughter. She turned to him with a questioningly look. "Out of curiosity… What were you going to call me…?" He asked, hesitant at the end.

There was a confused look on Ino's face before she remembered. "Ah! That?" She asked, to which he nodded. "Well," she said with a slight blush. "I was going to call you what I did in the future." She paused, considering whether or not to call her father by what she usually did.

"And that was…?" Inoichi asked. It was painfully obvious to everyone that he wanted to know.

"Well, I called you 'Daddy.'" Ino replied with a wide smile, which melted Inoichi's heart.

"Well, if you want," Inoichi said, trying to get back some dignity. "You can call me 'Daddy.' If you want."

Ino's eyes lit up. "Yay!" She exclaimed, latching onto her dad's arm. Once again, his heart melted.

Smiling a fatherly smile at his daughter, the two went backs towards their home, Ino talking a mile a minute. The rest of the families did the same, except they weren't as bad as the Yamanaka pair.

0o0

Minato, while he was walking out of the meeting room, decided he'd walk home, rather than using Hiraishin. It was a beautiful day out, and he'd prefer to hold onto Naruto longer. He was so excited that Naruto was actually his son. He had loved Naruto like his son before he knew this information, but to actually know it made him feel all warm inside. So, he was going to walk around, carrying Naruto, proud to be his father.

It was when they had made it to the ground floor that people had started to notice the pair. Naruto was still in his pajamas (Minato had put him in pajama pants and a long pajama shirt, much like his own pair, while he was heading downstairs) and had his sleeping cap on. Needless to say, Naruto was very cute, and had such an innocent sleeping face.

Minato was walking down one of the main roads when he was first approached by a villager.

"My, he's so cute, Minato-sama," The villager, who was a kind elderly lady, commented.

Minato beamed. "Yes, he is," He replied with a look of adoration for the boy he was carrying. He then carried on, greeting the woman farewell as he headed towards home again.

As he went home, he was stopped and talked to by the villagers as usual, though most of it was about Naruto, and how cute he was.

It was when Minato ran into both Ino-Shika-Cho trios that had gotten the best reaction out of Minato.

"Minato," Shikaku called, to which Minato smiled. Both generations of Ino-Shika-Cho were there, with Ino still clinging to her dad's arm.

"So he's still asleep?" Chouza asked, referring to Naruto.

"Yes, he's quite tired today." Minato replied in a happy manner.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru said, but was smiling at the small blond on the Yondaime's shoulder.

"He's really cute at this age," Ino commented, looking at Naruto. The group nodded, and went onto small talk as they walked.

The group ended up in front of a restaurant, and Minato had been convinced to join them. As Chouza went in to arrange for them to be seated- the restaurant had outdoor seating- the group talked about the meeting.

"Its a lot to take in," Inoichi commented as they sat down at their table.

"It is," Ino agreed. "But, its better to know this now before it's too late, right?" She asked, looking over menu. Inoichi nodded solemnly in agreement. Knowledge was a weapon. A double-edged one.

"What would you like?" Te waitress asked, smiling flirtatiously in Minato's direction, though it had no affect because Minato wasn't paying attention.

The two generations of Ino-Shika-Cho gave their orders, and the waitress asked Minato what he'd like.

"I'll have some pasta," He decided, and the waitress then motioned towards Naruto, who Minato had yet to let go of, mostly because of Naruto's firm grip on his shirt.

"Naru," Minato said in a soft, caring voice, getting the attention of the other people on the outside patio, as well as a few passer-bys. "Come on, wake up."

With a little yawn that made all the females present 'kyah', Naruto opened his eyes, rubbing them.

"Daddy…?" Naruto asked in a small, sleepy voice. The look on Minato's face lit up the whole table. His face was that of pure delight and happiness at have been called 'daddy'.

"What is it, Naru?" Minato asked, that look of happiness never going away.

"Pasta…" Naruto mumbled, yawning again. The waitress wrote that down, and quickly went to deliver the order so the Hokage and the Clan Heads would not have to wait long.

"Like father, like son," Shikaku commented, his eyes leaving the clouds to observe the happy duo. Naruto had woken up to the extent where he could sit in his father's lap.

Ino smiled. It was good that Naruto was getting the attention from his father. God knows that Naruto was seriously deprived of it as a child. Looking over to her teammates, she knew they were thinking the same thing.

If only they could keep the Yondaime from dying… Maybe then Naruto would have a happy childhood. But the three knew that, unless something happened, that Naruto wouldn't get what they deserved.

The three looked at the duo, watching as Minato happily played with Naruto, who was laughing. Yes, if only the kami would give Naruto that one gift, to at least have a father during his childhood.

And when Naruto met their gazes, they, if only for a moment, didn't see the eyes of happy little 8-year-old that Naruto was currently acting like. No, they saw the eyes of their Hokage, who was shedding unshed tears, wishing for the exact same thing.

And that's a wrap! It turned out longer that it was supposed to be though…Not that you guys care, though. xD There was a lot of Naruto-Minato bonding in this, which I personally like. And who doesn't think a sleeping 8-year-old Naruto is cute? Anyways, please review, and Happy Birthday Naruto! :D and I'm sorry for not being able to update it on the tenth. I couldn't get on the internet at all.


	10. Chapter 10

Hola! I just finished my Spanish homework. Gah. It's harder than it looks people. And I'm really sorry for not updating for a while. I'm publishing two new stories! One of them is Yugioh, the other Kyo Kara Maoh.

Anyway, this chapter may be short (I don't know anymore, the last chapter was longer than I thought it was going to be. But then again, you guys probable don't care about that…). It'll be a conversation between Minato and Naruto. So that should be fun.

Oh, and I do apologize for my sad sense of humor, or lack of it. And, as some of you may/may not have wondered, I'm going to pull Itachi back into the flow, as he'll have important roles within the next couple of chapters. Anyway, Onward, and enjoy! (Chap 11-10)

p.s. Naruto isn't meant to be super powerful. He's really strong, yes, but he isn't perfect. He has his flaws.

~Recap~

The three looked at the duo, watching as Minato happily played with Naruto, who was laughing. Yes, if only the kami would give Naruto that one gift, to at least have a father during his childhood.

And when Naruto met their gazes, they, if only for a moment, didn't see the eyes of happy little 8-year-old that Naruto was currently acting like. No, they saw the eyes of their Hokage, who was shedding unshed tears, wishing for the exact same thing.

~End Recap~

The lunch was enjoyable. Minato had had fun during lunch, listening to his son's antics (Naruto had returned to his 14-year-old state, not wanting to be glomped by the female population anymore, to which everybody at the table laughed at.). They had even managed to get out a few stories in which he snuck into the ANBU HQ. Now those were stories worth remembering. Ones he'd never let his ANBU forget, considering the stories he told during lunch were when he had manages to travel into the past.

But that was another thing. His son's amazing skill with fuuinjutsu. It was amazing how he could create the most unexpected- yet brilliant- seals within a matter of minutes (or seconds, depending on the situation). To say the least, his son could be considered a genius. But then there was the fact that he wouldn't reveal any of his techniques. And as a fuuinjutsu master and a dad, that wasn't good.

Now, he knew his son had quite a rough child hood. And while he didn't want to open bad memories the trust, or lack of, was concerning him. They had lived in the same household for over a year, and if Naruto didn't trust him enough to tell him about one seal, what did that say about him as a person?

It was on their way home (Minato had Naruto on his shoulders, as the latter had henged into an 8-year-old again (Minato had no idea why he kept on doing this. 'Mood swings, maybe?' He thought to himself) so he could ride the shoulders of the former.) that Minato had decided to ask Naruto about some of his skills.

"Hey kiddo," Minato called, his eyes looking upwards. Naruto looked down, proceeding for his father to go on.

"What exactly are you good in?" Minato asked. "I've trained with you, but only to an extent. Ita-san probably knows more than I do."

Naruto chuckled at the nick name for Itachi. As Minato had realized that he had Uchiha Itachi working for him as an ANBU, and that the Itachi who had come to live with the Namikaze's had looked exactly like each other, he had to call the elder Itachi 'Ita' as to not confuse him with the younger ANBU Itachi. Little did his father know that the two Itachi's were in fact the same person, albeit the age differences.

"Let's see. What do you want to know?" Naruto asked. He knew he'd have to answer these questions sooner or later. It might as well be sooner.

"Hmm…" Minato hummed in thought. "What are your best skills?" He asked.

"I have a lot of things that I'm good at, and I'm not bragging." Naruto replied.

"Alright then. Why don't I say the skill and you tell me, based off your own analysis, what level you're at?" Minato asked, turning the corner, and heading down the long road that would take the two back to the grounds.

"Alright," Naruto agreed. 'This'll be interesting.' Naruto thought to himself.

"Ninjutsu?" Minato asked.

"Kage level." Naruto replied.

"Fuuinjutsu?"

"Master. Kage level or higher."

"Taijutsu?"

"Kage level."

"Kenjutsu?"

"Kage level."

"Senjutsu?"

"Up with the Nara's."

Minato blinked. To be as good as a Nara? That's pretty damn impressive.

"Genjutsu?" Minato asked, figuring it would be the same as the other skills he had.

"Non-existent." Naruto replied.

"'Non-existent'?" Minato asked, stopping in surprise, and looking back up to his son.

"Yup." Naruto replied, somewhat sheepishly. "I've never been good at Genjutsu. I can disrupt it, (they usually don't work on me) but I've never been able to cast any."

"Wow," Minato replied. But then he thought of something. "Wait. If you can't use genjutsu, how was that picture you had in your room hidden from me this whole time?"

"Oh, that was a genjutsu." Naruto simply replied.

Minato frowned. "But I thought you said your genjutsu skills were 'nonexistent'?"

"They are nonexistent." Naruto replied again.

"Then how were you able to keep up a genjutsu over the picture?" Minato asked, confused and slightly irritated. His son was avoiding the subject, but he would not let Naruto get off the hook so quickly.

"I had inside help." Naruto said.

"'Inside help'?" Minato asked. Naruto nodded. Seeing as Naruto wouldn't say anything for the time being, Minato thought about who was good enough to make a genjutsu that even he couldn't sense.

'I'll have to ask Itachi,' Minato thought to himself. 'He's knowledgeable on gen…jutsu…' Minato's eyes widened.

"Naruto… This inside help wouldn't so happen to be Itachi, would it?" Minato asked. Naruto smiled, and nodded. 'To a certain extent, though,' Naruto grinned inwardly. 'After all, you did help create the genjutsu, didn't you, Kyuubi?'

'That's right, I did. But you're Uchiha there also helped a lot as well. It's probably one of the most complex ones I've seen in a very long time.' Kyuubi replied.

Naruto grinned, unbeknownst to his father, on which shoulders he was still riding on, that he was talking to what he had referred to as 'inside help'.

'He won't suspect a thing,' Naruto thought to himself and to Kyuubi, filled with mirth. 'And he won't know at all…'

And that's it! I am going to post another chapter later this weekend, so don't you worry. It'll be the beginning of the end (sadly). But you never know what might come out of it… xD


	11. Chapter 11

Hola! Ya he terminado con mi tarea de Espanol! (Otra vez) Gah! Now, for those who don't understand this at all (I didn't either, I went to Google Translate to get this) it means: Homework de Spanish is el finished.

Sorry, I think I've consumed too much sugar, for I'm very hyper, and why whatever is above this above. But anyway, guess what? I didn't realize it until just recently, but I have 103 reviews! That means so much to me (even with the ones that don't help my already non-existent self-esteem xD) and I'm really happy! But now I have some sad news: as said in the previous chapter, this chapter is the beginning of the end. T-T. There may be 3-4 more chapters, and an epilogue (which is not included in the 3-4 chaps.).

But, enough with that depressing stuff! Y'know, I'm thinking, after I've got my other two stories along a steady path ( I posted them last week, and like nobody likes them, but whatever x3) I'll post another Naruto story. I don't have much together right now, but it'll be a Team 7 time-traveling fic. (Won't that be fun?) And there won't be any Sakura-bashing. I've read so much Sakura-bashing that I'm surprised that she won't be bashed.

But anyway, I want to reply to some people. I'm going to start doing this in my (popular) stories.

InARealPickle: Thanks for the info. I now know what a C2 is. (I just checked, and this story's in 6 of 'em.) And for the blood transfusion. I'm deprived of that knowledge except fro what I've seen on House. xD

EK12: Thanks, I'll see if I can make Kushina glomp him. It depends on how she's feeling, though. ;)

Also, the ages of the characters will be Naruto's back-in-time age. This isn't because of my wants, but for everything to flow along. (The group of time-travelers had a price to pay, and thus shall pay by going back in age, like Naruto. Make sense?)

Now, Onwards with the story! (Chapter 12-11 (11)) ! (I've got the gummy bear song stuck in my head!)

Legend

"Talking/talking in mindscape"

'Thinking/talking to Kyuubi'

"Bijuu talking"

'Bijuu thinking'

~Recap~

'He won't suspect a thing,' Naruto thought to himself and to Kyuubi, filled with mirth. 'And he won't know at all…'

~ End Recap~

It hadn't taken much to convince Kushina that Naruto was her son. She had somehow known that Naruto and she were related, but was waiting for him to come out with it. ("I knew you were my son! No one besides me can eat so much ramen without throwing up!" Kushina exclaimed before glomping him and rubbing her cheek against his soft golden locks.) It had relieved Naruto; he had thought that his parents would have reacted more strongly than they had. Nonetheless, he was indeed grateful for their understanding and acceptance. Now, if only he could inform them about the Kyuubi attack…

Currently, Naruto was training out in the training fields within the Namikaze compound, practicing his katas while Itachi observed.

"You have improved in your styles greatly, Naruto-kun." Itachi complimented, garnering a large smile from the golden-haired boy. It wasn't often that Itachi (let alone any Uchiha, really) gave out compliments. So when he did, it was something to be proud of.

"Thanks. It took me almost eight months to combine the two together." Naruto replied, honestly pleased with his progress. He remembered a year ago when he and Kyuubi were working on it in his mindscape. Kyuubi had relentlessly made fun of him for falling on his butt all the time.

"I still do," Kyuubi commented, chuckling. Naruto pouted slightly, making the Uchiha prodigy wonder what was going on in his little ototou's head.

"But you have, indeed, improved immensely, as the Uchiha said. Your control and accuracy of the form had improved greatly since we began. Not to mention that you have mastered control over my none-tails. That's something not to take lightly." Kyuubi said, Naruto nodding his head in agreement. He remembered the day where he had finally gained control of all nine-tails. He had felt, and still does, a sense of great accomplishment. It had been, after all, one of the hardest tasks he had ever done.

Smiling serenely, Naruto didn't notice Itachi sighing before going to sit under a tree with a nice patch of shade, and a book in hand. Summers were warm in Konoha, and that hadn't changed, despite being in the past.

'Ne, Kyuubi, when do you think he'll attack?' Naruto asked. He knew that Kyuubi was well aware of who he was referring to. It was a subject they didn't often talk about, but, Naruto had thins sinking feeling in him that was growing ever so steadily, and he was worried. Worried that his friends and family would be torn away from him, all by his former best friend.

Kyuubi didn't respond for a bit, knowing the thoughts that were going through his kit's mind. Kyuubi let his host go through the katas one more time before he tugged on the young ninja's mind, telling said ninja that he was ready to reply.

Naruto put away the wooden katana he had gotten from his dad on the porch table before walking over to sit by Itachi.

Itachi didn't bother looking up when he saw the boy coming over. It was times like these, he knew, that it was best to stay silent, rather than voice your thoughts. In time, he would be able to say his thoughts, but for now, he remained quiet. Naruto needed to sort out this problem himself.

Sitting down besides Itachi, Naruto was thankful for the elder's silence. It was all he could ask for at the moment. Appreciating the silence given, Naruto gave his full attention to his tenant.

"He will attack soon," Kyuubi began, seriousness echoing in his voice. "I believe him to be here already, though he had yet to reveal himself." Naruto tensed, but did not say anything. "It would be wise if you told your father this," Kyuubi continued. "That way he can inform the village of this, and make sure everyone's ready for this. Although," Kyuubi mused. "This will have to be done in secret. We do not want him finding out. If he does, he'll be even more cautious, and won't attack when he normally would."

Naruto nodded in agreement. In order to get the best possible advantage against Sasuke, he would need to inform his father. 'I agree with what you're saying. If we can prepare the villagers for a sudden attack without Sasuke knowing, it would be a tremendous help. I don't want to worry about anyone while I'm fighting Sasuke,' Naruto told his tenant determinedly. 'I'm not going to hold back this time. I WILL kill him, and I WILL put an end to this madness. It's been going on for far too long.'

Kyuubi smiled at his kit, proud. He had grown up from the brat he was when he was thirteen. 'And time will only tell how things will turn out,' Kyuubi thought, solemnly.

Though Naruto couldn't hear Kyuubi's thoughts, he knew what his tenant was thinking, for he was thinking the same thing too. Naruto smiled grimly at the thought. The two had come far, and they weren't about to let someone ruin it all because they wanted revenge. No, the two were going to fight until they died. Jinchuuriki's and bijuu's never closer than the two were.

0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-

It was a clear blue day, the sun was out shining, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The Rookie Nine, along with the Subaku siblings, had decided to meet up and go on a picnic. It was at this time that Tenten and Ino were dragging Naruto and Shikamaru, while the others were following along, silently laughing at the misfortune of their two friends. They had all brought something along to make the picnic more enjoyable. Chouji brought a couple (3) of picnic baskets filled to the brim with food, courtesy of his mom; the Subaku siblings had brought two coolers filled with drinks; Hinata and Neji brought blankets where they could sit; Shino brought a boom box; Ino brought the music for the boom box; Kiba had brought games they could play, as well as Frisbees and the works; Lee and Tenten brought old albums for everyone to see.

Naruto and Shikamaru, though, had only been informed of the picnic that same day, and thus weren't able to bring anything. And thus, they were being dragged at the front of the group.

The villagers watched in amusement as the group of ninja walked along. They didn't look like anything but teenagers having fun. Though they knew, without having to be told, that these teens held secrets to themselves, though they knew it was for the good of the village. The villagers couldn't help but sigh; kids so young, being forced to kill, forced to fight. But, 'twas the life of a Shinobi. And so, they smiled at the group who had managed to keep their somewhat childish demeanors. And they prayed to whatever gods existed; they prayed for them to keep that attitude, keep that childishness. For once it's gone, it isn't ever coming back.

0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-

The place for the picnic was a well chosen on, courtesy of Ino. It was inside the village, but away from civilization. When she was younger, she would often come up to this hill to play. It was, indeed, and ideal location for a picnic; it had been left to Mother Nature, and Mother Nature had done her job well. The hill itself was large and somewhat flat, able to fit the group easily with room to play and run around. There were also trees in which they could use for shade. It also gave one of the best views of Konoha, besides the Hokage Monument.

They had chosen a large oak to dine under. It provided shade, but it also let through light, making the ground they were now on seem to be surreal. The boys set out the blankets and opened the coolers, the girls set out the food. There was pleasant chatter among the group as they all sat down and ate. The food provided by Chouji's mom was delicious. There was a variety of things to chose from, ranging from sandwiches to pasta to rice, and more in between. The Subaku siblings had brought various drinks, such as lemonade, water and soda. "We would've brought some beer, too," Kankuro said, shooting a glance at his elder sister. "But Temari wouldn't let us."

"Think about it, Kankuro," Temari replied, meeting her brother's glare with her own. "Do you really think that a bunch of fourteen year-olds should be getting buzzed up on alcohol? What would their parents have to say about it?"

"But technically, we're twenty and older, Temari," Kankuro argued. "Besides," Kankuro sent a wry look towards Naruto. "I bet you have a bunch of sake on you." The group looked towards a sheepish Naruto, who had a hand scratching the back of his head. They all sweat-dropped, sans Naruto.

Temari sighed. "I guess that's expected," She said. "How much do you have on you right now?" she asked Naruto, who had gone into a thinking pose.

"Hmm… I think I have enough bottles to get everyone here pleasantly buzzed." He replied, smiling. The group shook their heads at their blond Hokage before going back to eat.

The group of teens had soon finished their portions of the food, and there was some left for later (Chouji's mom really had packed enough) they began playing games, going back to when they were six years old, and laughing childishly at each other's misfortunes.

They had turned on Shino's boom box, and Ino had put in some of her music. The song that was playing as the teens sat down to take was "Hey Soul Sister" by Train. (Don't look at me like that. I am not weird to put this into a ninja fanfic.)

The sun was starting to set, and it was a gorgeous one, over looking their home city. Ino sighed in happiness before remembering that there were two people that hadn't brought anything along for this joyous occasions (besides themselves.)

"Shika, Naru…" Ino sang out, sending shivers down the spines of said persons. The two looked over to a mischievously smiling Ino. "You two remember that you didn't bring anything to the picnic, riiiight?"

Naruto and Shikamaru gulped, not liking the look on her face, or the sound of her voice.

"But! I have a solution to that." Her grin got larger, if possible. "One of you will have to sing a song." She said.

"'One of us'?" Shikamaru asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"Its simple. The two of you'll play Jan Ken Pon. Whoever wins won't have to sing. But the loser will have to sing a song for the group." Ino explained, noticing those who were not forced to be in this situation smiling at her plan.

The two contestants paled at this, and looked a each other. Nodding, the two called out, "Jan Ken Pon!" With their hands revealed, they both had rock. "Jan Ken Pon!" The two called again, this time both having scissors. "Jan Ken Pon!" The two called for the third time, and this time, the results were different.

Shikamaru sighed in relief while Naruto pouted. Shikamaru had chosen paper, and it had beaten Naruto's rock. Shikamaru smirked up at his Hokage. "Looks like you'll have to sing now, Naruto." Shikamaru said amused, now that he didn't have to sing.

Naruto growled. "Oh shut up Shika. You'll regret it." Naruto threatened. While Shikamaru took this seriously, he secretly laughed when Naruto had turned away.

"Okay Naruto, you have to sing us a song!" Ino proclaimed. "And you can't be in your fourteen-year-old form either." Naruto swore, making the group, even Gaara, laugh.

"Fine," He muttered. He let loose the strong genjutsu, and stretched. His fourteen-year-old body wasn't so bad, but the side affects of the genjutsu made his body cramp.

Naruto sighed, not looking forward to singing. What was he going to sing, anyway? He looked around, to see if he could find any thing to sing about. Looking up, he saw the stars coming out, and just so happened to see a red star* in the sky. And that's when it came to him.

"Aha!" He proclaimed, smacking his fist into his other hand. "I know which song I'll sing." He smiled, remembering the song. It was a sad one, but was also a pretty tune as well.

Smiling, he took out a scroll he always kept on him in a seal located behind his left ear, and took out a bottle of sake. (He'd never tell his dad about that he'd never be able to store sake in there again.) Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his friends chit chatting as they collected their items, and packed everything away.

Silently, he jumped to a large branch on the large oak that gave a clear view of his beloved village. The smile on his face faded from view, as he remembered the sad events that had taken place in the future. He didn't let his team mates know, but today was the day that his Sensei, Sakura-chan, Sai and his Baa-chan were taken from him. It wasn't until the next day that they found the bodies. But Naruto knew that they had died the night before, yet he couldn't bring himself to go get them.

Naruto uncorked the cork to his sake, one that he had been saving for when he was Hokage, so he could share it with his Baa-chan, and took a large swig. It burned his throat as it went down, and warmed his stomach. He felt the tears in his eyes, but didn't care. He started to sing.

"_Natsuhiboshi…"_

The remaining Rookie Nine, as well as the Subaku siblings, stopped their work when they heard the beautiful, yet incredibly sad voice. They all looked over and saw that their Hokage was the one singing. They all watched, and saw as the heart of their leader ripped into pieces once again…

0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-

"_Natsuhiboshi…"_

The villagers all paused as they heard the voice. It was beautiful, but oh, was it ever sad. Minato and Kushina, who were eating out at a barbeque that night since Naruto was out with his friends, paused in their eating as well, listening to the tortured soul sing his beautiful song.

"_Natsuhiboshi, naze akai?_

_Yuube kanashii yume wo mita._

_Naite hanashita_

_Akai me yo…"_

There was a pause in the voice's singing, and as the wind blew gently in through the village, it was as if it was playing the unheard melody.

And the voice started back up again, bringing the attention back to the singer.

"_Natsuhiboshi, naze mayou?_

_Kieta warashi wo sagashiteru._

_Dakara kanashii_

_Yume wo miru…"_

The song ended, and those who listened could not help but wonder: who was the voice singing? And _why_ were they?

0o0-0o0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0o-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-

Naruto sighed as he finished singing. He didn't let the tears go, but he could tell that his friends could see the unshed ones glistening in his eyes. He could feel them, so why shouldn't they be able to see them?

He looked down from his perch to look at his friends, who were watching him sadly. He put on a bright smile, but both he and his friends knew it was fake.

He flipped from his perch and looked up at his friends with a pout. "I'm hungry! Let's go get something to eat!" He whined, causing the group to laugh.

"Baka, you just ate ten an hour ago! How can you be hungry?' Ino asked amusedly.

"Isn't it obvious?" He asked the group. They tensed, thinking he was going to bring up his tenant. "Because I can be!" he proclaimed, causing everyone, except Neji and Gaara (who sighed and shook their heads) to face-fault.

"Baka!" Ino shouted at him, hitting him upside the head. Naruto pouted, causing everyone to laugh. Lee gave Naruto, who had landed on the ground with an 'oomph' a hand up. Naruto brushed himself off, before tensing. He looked around, trying to find that source. 'It couldn't be…'

"What a nice reunion." A male voice said. The group of shinobi looked up to the branch Naruto had just vacated, and paled. (In Naruto's case, he paled even more so.)

"It's too bad that I'm going to have to kill you all," The man said, jumping down from the branch, a smirk on his face.

Naruto growled low.

"Sasuke."

0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-0o0-

And there ya have it! I liked writing this chapter, despite it being sad.

*Natsuhiboshi is the song from the filler episode 182, after Sasuke leaves, but before Naruto leaves for training. I love this song. I've got it memorized. xD


	12. Chapter 12

My god! I am so so so so very sorry! Please don't shoot me! I know I haven't updated in a really long time, but I have my reasons. First off, my computer crashed on me. Twice. Not so fun, it was a good thing that I was able to salvage the file (though I don't really know how I did it.) I've also been really busy; I've had a lot to do over the past two months, ranging from tests to study for to essays to concerts (I'm involved in a variety of activities.)

Thanks to all of you who are still reading this story. I know its been a rough road, but this is the official last chapter. (Unofficially, there's going to be an epilogue. For the epilogue, I'll be asking for your feedback particularly; it's vital for the story to finish. Further info at the end of the story.) This may not be the best fight you'll read on this site (I've read some seriously epic fight scenes on ), but I will try. Sasuke might be a little OC in this chapter, so please bare with it. Onward with the story! Enjoy!

~Recap~

"Baka!" Ino shouted at him, hitting him upside the head. Naruto pouted, causing everyone to laugh. Lee gave Naruto, who had landed on the ground with an 'oomph' a hand up. Naruto brushed himself off, before tensing. He looked around, trying to find that source. 'It couldn't be…'

"What a nice reunion." A male voice said. The group of shinobi looked up to the branch Naruto had just vacated, and paled. (In Naruto's case, he paled even more so.)

"It's too bad that I'm going to have to kill you all," The man said, jumping down from the branch, a smirk on his face.

Naruto growled low.

"Sasuke."

~End Recap~

Sasuke stared at Naruto with a smirk and ice cold eyes. Naruto stared back with an impassive face, not even his eyes showing what he was feeling for his old teammate.

Seeing as how his friends weren't going anywhere, Naruto decided to make them leave.

"Go," He said, no, commanded his friends. He would not have his precious people in danger, even if it meant forfeiting his life in return. "Go and tell him that it's time." When the gang still didn't move, he growled. "Go!"

This seemed to get them moving, and they left the hill, albeit reluctantly. Only Shikamaru and Gaara remained.

"You better come back Naruto," Shikamaru threatened. "Or else I'll drag you're sorry butt back from the grave and kill you myself." Gaara nodded in agreement, and Naruto lightly sweat dropped.

"Don't worry, I will come back. You can't get rid of me that easily, Shika." Naruto smiled, and he was able to keep the sadness out of his smile. He knew, and Shikamaru and Gaara probably knew as well, that there would be no survivors after this battle.

Shikamaru nodded once, and the tow shinobi shun shined out of the area. Naruto turned back to Sasuke, who hadn't moved from his spot. The blonde cracked a smirk. "Aw, how sweet. Waiting for me to finish my conversation."

Sasuke snorted. "Please. I only waited so that when you were killed it wouldn't be in front of your little friends."

"Underestimating me already, Sasuke?" Naruto asked in an eerily calm voice, that put Sasuke on edge slightly. "I wouldn't do that; you'll end up dying quicker than you think."

That's when Naruto struck; while the two were talking, Naruto released the gravity seals he had on himself, and as he charged towards Sasuke, he was nothing but a yellow blur that was barely visible. Naruto struck with his Katana, which was in its true form. A four foot long blade the color of his sky blue eyes, and easily sharp enough to cut through metal. The hilt as black as an Uchiha's eyes. Adorning the hilt were small gemstones that were a deep sapphire blue and a red the color of Kyuubi's eyes. For the fight against the Oto-nin, it was in its sealed form. But now, facing against Sasuke, he needed to go all out, to make sure that Sasuke didn't kill his precious people.

Sasuke dodged the swipe easily and retaliated with his own sword, Kisangani, beginning the dance. Naruto dodged the horizontal attack by ducking and followed with a kick to Sasuke's legs. Said person jumped in the air and slashed downwards with his sword. Spinning on his right foot, Naruto dodged the slash and slashed his katana at a backwards diagonal slash with his left hand. Being thankful that he and Kyuubi created Shippu, his sword clashed with Sasuke's, and their dance continued.

0o0-0o0-0o0

The gang, now back in their twenty-year-old forms, rushed to the Hokage Tower. Shikamaru, who was leading the procession, got most of the stares, seeing as though he looked an awful lot like the Clan Head of The Nara's (aka Shikaku).

Upon entering the Hokage Tower, he traveled the familiar path to the office of his best friend, completely ignoring the secretary. Shikamaru knocked twice before entering the office. He didn't care what anyone said: his Hokage gave him an order, and he would complete them without fail.

Entering the office, Shikamaru was only slightly shocked at seeing all the Clan Heads of this time in the office. Everyone looked towards him with looks annoyance and curiosity. Shikamaru faced the Hokage, who was annoyed as well.

"What in the world is so important that you couldn't wait to get in here?" Minato asked with a steely voice. Shikamaru's eyes narrowed dangerously, forming a glare. This shocked the occupants of the room; if Shikamaru was indeed a Nara (which he obviously was), that look would be very bad for the receiving end.

"'What's wrong?'" Shikamaru bit out, his words were as sharp and cold as the tone of his voice. "I'll tell you what's wrong. My Hokage is out there fighting the most dangerous enemy in the Elemental Nations, and, instead of letting us stay there to help him, he sent us back here so we could warn you to evacuate the damned village!"

Shikamaru was absolutely livid; he was upset about the fact that he had to leave Naruto there with Sasuke. But the fact that the Yondaime sounded annoyed at his interruption when he should know that the only reason he would barge in was because of something deadly important. Minato's eyes grew wide in shock, though the infuriated Nara didn't find that satisfactory.

"We need to evacuate the village immediately." Shikamaru continued, his words not as icy as before, though still pretty frosty. "Knowing those two, there will be a lot of destruction; there always is."

Minato nodded sharply. "Alright. Sound the alarms immediately, and tell the villagers this is an S-Class emergency." Shikamaru nodded and left the room and didn't look back; he knew the Yondaime would explain the situation to the confused Clan Heads.

"What's going on, Hokage-sama?" Tsume asked, her voice low serious. "Why is this an S-Class emergency?"

Minato looked at her with hardened eyes. "I will explain when the village, shinobi included, is evacuated." The tone Minato's voice left no room for argument, and the shinobi there knew that to question their Hokage now would be a death sentence.

The Clan Heads quickly left the Hokage Tower and began rounding the citizens and shinobi. The villagers were vastly confused, and didn't cooperate fully. The one to clam them, though, was an unexpected one.

"Silence!" Hinata commanded, and the people ceased their chatter immediately. Hinata had a frown adorning her gentle face, and her jaw was set. "We are in an S-Class emergency. You all need to cooperate in order to secure the safety of yourselves, pets, and children. Now go!" The response was instantaneous; the villagers headed towards the Hokage Monuments where they would hide until the emergency was over.

Once all the residents of Konoha were safely in the Monuments, Minato stood in front of the people. Seeing their Hokage, they all quieted down.

"Minna-san, thank you for cooperating. The situation we have is dire, one that, if not taken care of, could result in a grave disaster." Minato's gaze swept over the people of his village before he continued.

"As most of you know, we are in an S-Class emergency, though most of you weren't told." Nods were made by the people and Minato continued again. "Right now, there is a dangerous nin in the village, though not by the city itself." He looked over towards Shikamaru, who took over, as the Hokage's assistant.

"I'll be blunt," Shikamaru began, garnering the attention of the people. "The most dangerous guy in the Elemental Nations, even more so than the Yondaime, is that nin." There were whispers of fright and looks of terror all over the places. Even the ANBU were tense. "But," Shikamaru continued, the attention on him once more. "This nin is not from this time period." Shock and terror went to confusion and anger.

"What do you mean by that?" A Chuunin called out. "It's impossible to time-travel, isn't it?" He asked, people agreeing with the Chuunin.

"But what if it was possible?" Shikamaru asked a question in return. "What if there was someone strong in the future that was skilled enough to make a time-travel jutsu? What would you say to that?"

"That person would indeed be very strong," Gai spoke up, his youthfulness attitude turned into a somber and serious one. "I suppose we all know who this person is, don't we?" Gai asked, receiving a nod from the lazy genius. "Who is he?"

About to reply, there was a sudden explosion, scaring all those who were in the room. Gaara, who had, until now, been leaning against the wall silently, stepped forward with the his third sand eye. Saying a quick jutsu, Gaara projected the wall to a place where everyone could see what was happening. And when they did, all were shocked, though none were affected as bad as Minato was.

"Naruto…"

0o0-0o0-0o0

Naruto had managed to land another punch on Sasuke with a left uppercut. The impact with Sasuke's jaw had sent said man flying and straight into a tree. The tree, who couldn't handle the pressure it was suddenly assaulted with, cracked and exploded, sending the Uchiha back even more.

There was smoke from the explosion, and Naruto remained on guard, trying to sense where Sasuke was. At the last second, he quickly dodged the stab aimed at his side, jumping away. The smoke cleared and Naruto got a clear view of his battered opponent; Sasuke's white shirt had, by now, been torn off him, and all he had left on now were his black ANBU pants. There were scratches and dirt all over his bare pale skin, and blood slowly leaked from wounds that had not been tended to. It wasn't like Naruto was any better, though; he, too, was in nothing but his standard black ANBU pants, his shoes obliterated, the remains all over the hill. The only part of the hill that remained was the sturdy oak tree. Naruto frowned at the destruction of the hill, hoping that, by the time he was back in the future (if he survived), the hill would be regrown again.

The blonde looked back towards his enemy; the two were breathing hard. They both knew that this had to end, though who would win, they didn't know.

"Done already, dobe?" Sasuke asked, setting his sword up in an attacking stance, his cursed seal activating.

"Please. You have a long way to go before you can kill me, teme." Naruto retorted, entering Sage Mode. He wondered how Jiraiya was reacting (Naruto knew that Gaara had left the Sand Eye here, and was, most likely, showing it to all the other villager, even tou-san and kaa-chan).

The two said no more as they danced their deadly tango; if one slipped, the other would, for sure, would kill him. No moves could be wasted, and you had to be able to match the other's speed, otherwise the difference in time could kill you.

Flipping backwards, Naruto kicked Sasuke in the jaw, sending the latter flying in the opposite direction. Naruto landed, going into a crouch. He sealed his sword back into his hand, and started creating his signature move, knowing this would be the last one. From where Sasuke had landed, he could hear the chirping of the birds, and knew that Sasuke, too, was preparing his final attack, giving it his all. Naruto sent a blade of wind to where he knew Gaara's Sand eye was; he didn't want anyone to be burdened with the sight that was to be seen. Feeling little satisfaction when he felt the minute tremor from the explosion of the Sand Eye, Naruto concentrated on his attack, moving the remainder of his chakra to his Rasenshuriken. This would be the end.

His attack complete, the blond Rokudaime charged forward towards the person who would forever be his best friend and rival. There was no going back.

"Fuuton: Rasenshuriken!"

0o0-0o0-0o0

And there you have it! Mean, aren't I? I know you wouldn't want it to end just like that, right? (Insert evil laugh here) Well, tell me what you think, and if you want what happened next in the Epilogue. Please review 'cause, if you don't, I won't be able to write the end to this story. And that would be bad. For you and for me. I'd die 'cause my muse would drive me crazy, and if I die, you don't get the end of the story. So please Review! Again!


	13. Chapter 13

Here it is people! The last chapter of Going Back! Thanks to all those who reviewed, it really means a lot to me (and lets my muse form the next plot for my next Naruto story xD). Below are the final stats of the story (before the reviews of this chapter):

Reviews: 130 (Gawd, that's a lot)

Hits: 40,173 (O.O)

C2s: 7

Favorites: 144

Alerts: 140

Thanks again to all of those who have been with me since the very beginning of the story, and have stayed with me (despite the rough patch around chapter 6). Onward, and Enjoy! (it is a little short though, sorry)

Epilogue

~Recap~

Naruto sent a blade of wind to where he knew Gaara's Sand eye was; he didn't want anyone to be burdened with the sight that was to be seen. Feeling little satisfaction when he felt the minute tremor from the explosion of the Sand Eye, Naruto concentrated on his attack, moving the remainder of his chakra to his Rasenshuriken. This would be the end.

His attack complete, the blond Rokudaime charged forward towards the person who would forever be his best friend and rival. There was no going back.

"Fuuton: Rasenshuriken!"

~End Recap~

It was a beautiful day in Konoha; the sky was a clear blue, and clouds were gently floating along. The sun was shining brightly, its radiant beams giving warmth to those who stood underneath its rays. 'Perfect day for cloud watching,' Shikamaru though to himself as he made his way through the village at a leisurely pace. He had just gone to pick up the gate reports for the Hokage, and he wasn't in any big hurry. Though he doubted much work would be completed today; today was an important day, to all of those in the Elemental Nations. Thinking back, he could clearly remember what happened that day, when Naruto destroyed the Sand Eye.

_~Flashback~_

_There was a deathly silence_ _as the only connection to the fight was destroyed. The silence was broken by an almost inaudible sigh, though, as it was quiet, almost every shinobi in that hideaway could hear it._

_All heads turned towards one Subaku no Gaara, who had known what happened. He looked around, seeing the expectant looks he was getting. Sighing again, he began to explain._

"_Naruto was, in fact, the one who destroyed my Sand Eye." Murmurs went through the room, though Gaara paid no heed to them. "He most likely sent a blade of wind as he was preparing his last attack." The shinobi nodded in agreement, the logic was sound, while the civilians just waited to hear more from the red-head. "And I agree with his actions." _

_This managed to snap heads back towards Gaara. Most of the shinobi, save for those of the Rookie Eleven that were there, gaped at him with looks of shock and disbelief._

"_Why do you agree with him, Gaara-san?" Gai, the only one in the room who didn't seem too fazed by this asked. _

_Gaara didn't answer right away, thinking of how exactly he should word this explanation._

"_You all know how old Naruto is, correct?" Gaara asked, and he heard whispers of fourteen and fifteen, but not his actual age. "In another six months," Gaara continued, "Naruto will be having his twenty-first birthday." Eyes bugged at the blond Rokudaime's true age._

"_But how is that possible?" Jiraiya, who had been silent for pretty much the whole time, asked. He had hunches on what it may be, but its better to have it straight from an accurate source._

"_When Naruto arrived here, or so he told me, he was trapped in the body of a thirteen-year-old. It wasn't until the Oto attack on Konoha recently that Naruto gained back his original form, though only for a short amount of time. Because of the chakra overload, his body was having trouble keeping up with the amount of chakra he had, and so, henged him into various ages." Gaara explained. The Rookie Eleven and Sand Siblings gawked at Gaara slightly, who raised a slender eyebrow. They had never seen or heard Gaara talk that much before._

"_I get what happened with his body," Jiraiya spoke up, returning them to the subject at hand. "But that doesn't explain why you agree with cutting off the only source of information we had of him." Out of the corner of his eye, Jiraiya watched Minato squeeze Kushina's hand in reassurance._

"_Naruto's age is important to this matter, Jiraiya-san," Gaara replied, his voice becoming slightly colder. "The man he was battling with, he has been hunting him down since he was thirteen." The room went deathly quiet, and Gaara glanced around to see the reactions of those in the room. Most of the shinobi and civilians were shocked at how long their blond friend had been chasing after the brunette. There were others though, Gaara noticed, that had different expressions on their faces._

_Jiraiya, along with Sarutobi and Tsunade, looked as if they were thinking about the reasons the boy would do what he did. Then there were those, such as Minato and Kushina, who had looks of worry on their faces. It was reasonable, Gaara mused, since they were, after all, his biological parents._

_Gaara coughed, garnering the attention once more. "Its more than just chasing after a missing-nin," Gaara said. "The connection between the two runs deeper than that." And after those last words, Gaara leaned against the wall again, signifying that he would say no more._

_~End Flashback~_

Shikamaru sighed, thinking of how the reactions of the shinobi and villagers present at that time helped change their future actions. All of those who visited the past had remembered, had felt, had seen the changes that occurred while they were in the past, of the things they had chosen. To say the least, Konoha had changed, and in his opinion, his home had changed for the better.

Arriving at the Hokage Tower, Shikamaru walked in, where those who encountered him nodded and respectfully greeted him. Shikamaru sighed mentally; he could understand that, because he was the Clan Head of the Naras he would be treated with respect, but this was just too much. It was troublesome.

Shikamaru yawned as he knocked on the Hokage's office door. There was a shout of "come in!", and Shikamaru entered the office, closing the door behind him. Looking towards his Hokage, the lazy Nara saw that the swivel chair was faced towards the window, specifically aiming for the Hokage Mountain.

"Thinking about what happened back then?" Shikamaru asked, his voice quiet, already knowing what the answer to his question would be.

He received nothing but a nod for his Hokage, and Shikamaru didn't blame his leader one bit. This date, all those years ago, was something to remember, to always keep in their hearts. The happiness of getting rid of a dangerous enemy, the sadness of losing a friend who was pushed into the life of darkness and hatred.

Shikamaru heard a sigh, followed by the squeaking of the swivel chair that belonged to his Hokage. The Nara smiled at his Hokage, who smiled back at him before taking out a bottle of sake from his ear.

"I think I'll go watch the clouds…" Shikamaru mumbled, more to himself than his Hokage.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Shika. You don't want to get caught by Ino." The Hokage teased with a shit-eating grin. "If you were, you'd be screwed."

Shikamaru glared at his Hokage. "Its none of your business, _Hokage_-sama." Shikamaru retorted to the Hokage, who was now pouting.

"Mou, I told you guys to stop calling me that. Its so formal and cold." The Hokage whined, which made Shikamaru smirk.

"Its not out fault that you wanted to become Hokage," The lazy Nara replied.

"Well, it wasn't my fault that the lot of you decided to make me Hokage," Said person took a swig of his sake. "And it isn't my fault you decide to listen to me, either."

"Hai, hai," Shikamaru replied lazily, heading towards the door. "Oh, I almost forgot." Shikamaru face his Hokage again. "I ran into your mother on the way here. She wants you home for lunch, saying something about a special 'Uzumaki Ramen' dish that she was making, and that if you didn't hurry, she and your father were going to eat it all without you."

Looking towards his leader again, Shikamaru laughed at the expression of excitement and panic on his Hokage's face. Leave it to him to have two completely different emotions on his face at the same time.

Shikamaru sighed again (he seemed to be doing that a lot today) as he saw his Hokage disappear in a yellow flash.

Walking towards the door, Shikamaru thought to himself, 'You never change do you, Naruto?'

Walking outside the Hokage Tower, Shikamaru headed towards his favorite cloud-watching hill, the door to the Hokage Tower closing slowly…

0o0-0o0-0o0

And that's it! Its done! No more! So sad. TT-TT It was fun writing this chapter, so please review and give me your thoughts.

Ja!


	14. Chapter 14

Author's Note!

Hello everyone, please don't throw rotten food at me! I'm sorry that I didn't make it clear whether this story was finished or not. I'm not entirely sure, for that will depend on you. Here was what I was thinking since the last time I updated Going Back:

A) End the story just as it is.

B) Continue the story with, updating chapters with one shots of the time-skips whilst answering questions from the viewers.

C) You guys come up with something.

This was what was going through my head while I haven't updated. It was thanks to Here Forever who got my butt into action. Please review and tell me what I should do!

-blucross ^-^


	15. Important AU Note: Possible Rewrite

Hey All! What's up?

I know it's been a while since this story has been updated, but this story keeps haunting me in the back of my head. Now that I've been taught properly the ways of Grammar, I can hardly think about this story without cringing at all the incorrect grammar, iffy plot-line and conclusion that I'm sure that those of you who have read this story to the end have felt. So, I'm proposing this to you: I would like to rewrite this story. This would include:

-Better Grammar

-Longer Chapters

-Better plot-line

-A longer story (because with what I have planned, there's no way this story would stay the same length)

-And then, of course, whether you'd want this story's chapters to be edited or a whole new fic to be started

So! If you would be so kind, please PM me as to whether or not you would like a rewrite of this story. I'll have this Author's Note up for a week or two before deleting it.

Thanks!


End file.
